Surviving Rachel
by EllieMoon
Summary: The things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end. Shelby had lost the most important thing in her life, but when Rachel moves into town, can mother and daughter figure it all out?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- I was sort of thinking about Finding Carter, the show on MTV, and I had been reading a lot of Shelby/Rachel fics; I sort of thought why not put them in a similar position. Rachel is nine, and while she can remember some things, not everything is clear for the young girl. **

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><p>Rachel was nervous. It was her first official day of fifth grade, and she had only moved back to Lima a week ago. Her dads were in the process of divorcing when Leroy took Rachel across state lines to New York. He wanted to get away from small town life, and felt that the big apple was a good place to start a new life.<p>

That was three years ago. Rachel had loved living in Manhattan. She had managed to convince her father to allow her to audition for a few Broadway shows, never imagining that she would actually get a part. She was hired originally as the alternate Cosette until she was eventually the one going out there most nights. She adored her time in Les Mis. Unfortunately due to a recent custody battle her dad, Hiram, was able to gain custody over her. Her last show was two weeks previous, and she couldn't help but be angry that all of this was happening. In her opinion none of this was very fair.

She hated coming to visit her dad in Lima, and now she was expected to live here. She actually had to go back to regular school instead of home school because her dad didn't have the money to hire a tutor or the time stay home with her. It was stupid.

She sighed as she neared the school, which hadn't changed since the last time she was it. Everything looked just as how she remembered it. This day was going to suck. She watched all the other kids as they ran into the building. Rachel didn't know if she had friends at this school anymore. Her daddy had forced her to leave before she had the chance to say goodbye to anyone.

The classrooms looked the same too. Everything didn't seem to have changed that much. There were different posters and other things up in the hall compared to the last time she was here, but otherwise Rachel knew exactly where she was going. The fifth grade classrooms were on the other side of the building. She listened to the cries of the kindergarteners as they refused to part with their parents. She snickered a little as she watched one boy cling to his mother's leg, begging her not to leave. She rolled her eyes at the kid and his overdramatic tendencies.

She didn't remember acting like that when her fathers dropped her off. Maybe it was because they weren't that close. She loved them, but they didn't give her a lot of attention because they always had something else more important to do. She told them she understood when they left her with her nanny. In truth, Rachel didn't understand at all why her fathers never wanted to be in the same room as her.

The girl sighed as she picked up her pace. School was starting in five minutes, and she needed to hurry if she was going to get to her class on time. With seconds to spare she made it to the proper classroom, and noticed her classmates staring at her like she didn't belong. She ducked her head under their gazes. She may have performed on stage for two years, but she hadn't had any experience with kids her own age in a longtime.

The teacher noticed her entrance and smiled kindly at her. She walked over to the seemingly nervous girl. "Hello, you much be Rachel Berry, I'm Mrs. Anderson."

"Hi," she greeted. She was scared.

"Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?" Rachel's eyes widened as she took in the rest of the class.

She knew the teacher wasn't actually making a suggestion. She wanted her to do it whether she wanted to or not. She cleared her throat and turned to face everyone. "Hi I am Rachel Berry," she projected. The young brunette learned early in life that showing weakness only made it easy for others to target you. "I recently moved back to Lima to live with my dad. I used to live in Manhattan, which is in New York City. I was in the production of Les Mis where I performed onstage almost every night in front of huge crowds. I was also homeschooled." She fought the blush that tried to creep its' way onto her face. She didn't know anything about these kids, and she didn't want them picking on her already.

Mrs. Anderson directed her to an available seat in the second row. She sat behind a familiar boy, but for some reason she kept drawing a blank on his name. Mrs. Anderson started the class with math, and had everyone pull their workbooks out of their desk. She knew the children hated anything to do with math, but she knew how much simpler everything would be when the kids didn't have math lingering over their heads all day. She noticed that her new student seemed to be done after only ten minutes.

Her father had told her that the girl was quite good at math. She was bright, but often lacked the social skills needed to talk with others her own age. Mrs. Anderson noticed that her father didn't seem all that interested in his daughter. It was almost like he was acting for a part because when she had asked him if he had any concerns he shrugged.

The class was let out for their first recess at nine thirty. Rachel followed behind everyone else timidly. She walked onto the playground when suddenly she found her arms linked with two other girls.

"So Rach, don't you know how to say goodbye?" The darker haired girl asked.

Rachel's face fell because now she remembered them. They were her friends. She met them in pre-school, and they had gotten into all sorts of trouble together.

"I'm sorry Santana. My daddy wouldn't let me come to school that day. He was packing my clothes and other stuff, and said that we were going on a trip. I didn't know that he meant we were moving."

Santana felt sympathy for her old friend. She was still mad, but she was glad to see the girl again. "You know I was kidding, right?"

Rachel smiled a little. "I forgot how you are."

The blonde huffed impatiently. "Don't you remember me?"

"Quinnie, of course I remember you. Who couldn't remember you?"

Quinn scowled at her friend. Everyone knew how much she hated being called that, except her mother that is. She poked Rachel's arm. "My mom still calls me."

The brunette giggled loudly. "I figured. It is so weird being back here. I never though I would see you guys again."

"Hey you have us now, so what was it like to fulfill the dream you've been telling us about since we were three?"

Rachel's jaw dropped. Her cheeks tinged crimson because she had forgotten how much she had jabbered on to Santana and Quinn about Broadway. "Oh you know… amazing." She giggled. "It was strange though. I never saw my daddy. He was too busy for me."

Both girls patted her on the back. "Well you've got us now." Quinn felt for her friend. She knew that Rachel and her fathers did not have the greatest relationship. They rarely showed to any of her dance recitals, so her parents and Santana's always made sure to show up flowers and hugs.

"Thanks, I tried not to think about you guys because it hurt too much. I missed you, but I didn't know your phone numbers so I couldn't call you."

"Well we are all able to use the phone now," Santana smirked.

Rachel beamed at her. "Yes, we can. Do you remember that one time in pre-school when we got in trouble for using the phone?"

The girls chuckled. "I thought Ms. James was going to die of humiliation when she realized that we had nine-one-one. The cops had showed up and everything. She then put us all in timeout after she had settled matters with them."

"I hated that old bat. She always made Rach feel bad about having two dads. Then she always talked about your mom, Quinn. She was a bitter harpy."

Quinn and Rachel nodded their heads in unison. The feeling was very mutual among the girls. They had purposefully called 911 on their teacher because that's what they heard you do when you needed help.

When recess was over, Rachel felt much freer. She had two of her best friends back. She had to find the other one later. Mrs. Anderson spent the time before lunch teaching the kids grammar and social studies. She felt the time before lunch was usually when the kids were most attentive.

She released them for lunch, and they were told to report to music class after. She knew they didn't need any help figuring out where the room was, and Rachel seemed to have friends so she wasn't too worried.

Rachel, Quinn, and Santana decided to skip lunch and go straight to recess. This was something they always did because they liked being on the playground. They knew that this was their last year where they were able to have recess, and besides they figured they were at the top of the food chain now. They had to enjoy it because they would be back on the bottom again soon.

Rachel finally caught a glimpse of one of her other best friends and excused herself from Quinn and Santana. She wanted this private moment. They were all friends, but she wanted this to be special like how it was with Quinn and Santana.

"Kurt," she called out.

Kurt froze, not because he didn't recognize the voice. It was shock. He hadn't seen Rachel since the day before she left without a word. He had no idea she was moving, and he was hurt that she didn't tell him.

He sniffed, disinterestedly at her. Rachel paid no attention to his attitude because she knew how he could be. "Aw come on, at least Santana and Quinn gave me the benefit of doubt. And we both know how unforgiving they can be."

Kurt smiled inwardly. He had crossed them once, and it took a lot of begging and pleading on his part for them to even consider forgiving him.

He crossed his arms. "Explain then."

And she did. She told them about the divorce, her dad leaving town, and she mentioned a little about her time on Broadway. Kurt was enraged on behalf of his friend. No one should have no one who didn't care about them. He knew her fathers were never home, and that she had a nanny who looked after her. He felt horrible because even though he lost his mom, he still had his dad.

"I wasn't mad just so you know. It hurt because I thought you knew about the move."

Rachel shook her head sadly. She hooked arms with Kurt and led him over to where Quinn and Santana watched the duo nervously. They spent the rest of recess gossiping about the whole fifth grade. Rachel had missed a lot, and was glad her friends were more than happy to regale her with some of the more embarrassing stories of her classmates.

"You totally missed when Henry Peters peed his pants in front of everyone at the Christmas pageant last year. He didn't come to school for a week." All the kids laughed.

Recess ended all too soon for the kids, and Rachel soon found herself outside the music room. She remembered the old music teacher was old and deaf. Her idea of good music something from the fifties. The kids complained about it because none of them liked it. Heck, they weren't even born yet. Most of them were positive their parents weren't alive either.

She walked in behind her classmates to see a pretty, young brunette behind the desk. Something about this woman seemed familiar. She tried to recall where she had seen her before, but was having difficulty. She took a seat between her friends, and waited for the rest of her class.

Shelby sighed as Mrs. Anderson's fifth grade class strolled in. They were a rowdy bunch. None of them ever listened, and one little punk always threw paper balls at her. She supposed that was better than spitballs.

She noticed a knew girl sitting between the Fabray and Lopez girls. She seemed oddly comfortable with them. Shelby had heard Mrs. Anderson say she had started today. This was the second week of school, and the kids' first music class. She hoped this new girl behave herself.

"Okay class, I am going to call your names to make you are all here." The kids nodded. "Abbott, Jane," she called. She then reached what she assumed to be the new girl's name. "Berry, Rachel," she held back a sob at the name. Rachel had been the name of her daughter. This year was going to be hard, but she would push through like she always did. If the kids noticed her hesitance, they didn't comment on it.

Her own inner heartbreak wasn't as important as her job. She enjoyed spending time around children, if only because it allowed her from thinking about her own lost child. She told the kids what to expect for the year, and this year the musical would be Annie. She noticed Rachel straighten up in her seat at the mention of a musical, and decided to discuss it with her later. She knew a musical enthusiast when she was one.

Rachel loved Ms. Corcoran. She was sweet and pretty. She was pretty sure she knew her from somewhere else. If only she could remember where she knew the last name Corcoran from. She shrugged and left the room behind her classmates. She would Google it later if she remembered.

Rachel walked home from school that day after saying goodbye to her friends. It was kind of a long walk, but she forgot to ask her teacher what bus she was supposed to get on. Besides her dad never picked her up. He worked.

Shelby was exhausted by the time she had left the elementary school. She was happy though that the day had ended. She was glad that she wouldn't have to deal with Mrs. Anderson's class until Friday. As she was driving home, she noticed one of her students walking. Shelby figured the girl had to have been walking for at least fifteen minutes at this point. She stopped her car next to the girl when she realized it was Rachel.

Rachel had forgotten how long this walk could be. She had to walk it five times before when she had stayed behind at school. Normally Quinn or Santana's parents would give her a ride home, but those were the days they had been sick. Rachel's fathers made her go to school unless she was vomiting. Her fathers never wanted her to miss school, because they wanted to keep up appearances. Rachel had no idea what that meant exactly.

She sighed as she felt the hot sun beat down on her head. She hadn't exactly thought her wardrobe choice through this morning as she dressed for school. She was wearing dark blue jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt. She knew that schools could get could, and she was right about the cold part. Her classroom was freezing. She knew she should have gone for the shorts this morning instead because her jeans kept sticking to her legs.

She was too busy pouting over her misfortune to notice the black Range Rover pulling up beside her. She however, did hear when Ms. Corcoran called her name. Her head swiveled towards Shelby causing her hair to smack in her face.

"Rachel, " Ms. Corcoran addressed the girl, slightly wincing. She needed to get over the fact that this girl shared a name with her daughter.

Rachel tried to smile innocently. She didn't want to get in trouble, as she knew her father wouldn't be happy about that. "Yes?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Did you miss the bus? I'm pretty sure they don't let kids walk if they live father than ten minutes from school."

Rachel didn't know how to reply to that. She was caught. "Uh yeah I missed the bus. I didn't have any other way to get home so I started walking. It's fine. I've had to walk home before. It's not that long of a walk."

Shelby frowned at the girl. What kind of parent let their child walk home by themself? "Rachel, I don't feel comfortable letting you walk home by yourself. Do you think I could give you a ride home?" She wasn't actually giving the girl an option, but Shelby had spent a lot of time around children. She knew that they liked to think they had a choice.

Rachel bit her lip. It was hot. She still had at least another fifteen minutes until she was at her house. A ride would be nice, and she liked Ms. Corcoran. She knew her dad wasn't home, so there was no chance of him knowing about this.

"Uh yeah, I guess that is okay." Shelby unlocked the door for the girl, and Rachel climbed into the front seat. She was nervous, and twiddled her thumbs.

"Where do you live?"

"Over on Oak Street," the girl answered. Shelby was upset. Rachel was ten years old, and anything could happen to her while walking home.

She nodded her head to let Rachel know that she heard her. "What do you mean you've walked it before?" As far as Shelby knew, it was the girl's first day.

"Oh, well I used to live here when I was younger. I lived in New York City for a while with my other dad, but the one I currently live with got custody of me. So I had to move back."

"Do you not have a mother?"

Tears formed in Rachel's eyes. Shelby looked over when the girl didn't respond, and felt horrible for asking such a person question. "You don't have to answer that. I'm sorry."

Rachel waved away her apologies. "My dads told me she didn't want me. It's just, " she shook her head. She was being stupid. She never had a mother. That's what her dads told her when she was younger.

"It's just what?" Shelby asked.

"You promise you won't think it's stupid?" Rachel asked timidly.

"I promise."

"My dads told me I never knew my mother, but sometimes when I dream I can see her as clear as day. I can hear her singing to me as she tucks me into bed. I sometimes feel like I remember her arms around me as she held me when I had bad dreams. I remember once dreaming how she comforted me after I freaked out because I thought there were monsters in my room." Rachel chuckled nervously. "Sounds stupid, doesn't it?"

Shelby shook her head as tears swam in her eyes. "No it doesn't." She used to do those same things with her daughter. She remembered when her Rachel had gotten a new bed, and she believed that monsters were hiding underneath, waiting to get her once her mommy left.

"I just wish they were real. They feel real. I can feel the brush as she ran it through my hair. I remember I dreamed once that she rocked me after I had been bad and she spanked me. When I told my dads about my dreams they got angry at me. They told me point blank that I never had a mother. That my dreams were just in my head."

Shelby felt for the poor girl, but she was happy when they arrived at the girl's house. She didn't know much more she could handle. It hurt to know that she had lost her own child, and another child who reminded her so much of her own, didn't have a mother.

"Bye Rachel," Shelby told her as she got out of the car.

"Bye Ms. Corcoran, thank you for the ride." Rachel gently closed the door, and walked up the path to her dad's house. She hated this house. She turned around as she reached the door to see her music teacher watching her. She waved again as she unlocked the door and entered the house. She closed the door, and slid down the door to the floor. She hadn't meant to reveal so much about herself.

Shelby waited until Rachel was safely in her home to leave. She pondered everything the girl said, and decided she would watch out for her this year. She could tell that she had been through a lot. She didn't know why she couldn't get the girl out of her head for the rest of the day.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- Rachel is nine and in fifth grade. Shelby is a music teacher at her school. Rachel was kidnapped six years ago, and has vague memories of her mother.**

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><p>Rachel sighed as her alarm went off the next morning. She had a tough time falling asleep, and then when she actually did she dreamed of a faceless woman. Every time the woman got close, Rachel got farther away. She wanted the woman, but her dads kept pulling her away. She screamed, cried, and tried to kick her away out of their hold, but they held her tightly.<p>

She woke with a scream. No one was home to hear though. Her dad was never actually home when she had visited him. She never told her other dad about it because her dad told her not to. She didn't want to get into trouble.

She opted not to go back to sleep, instead choosing to watch Netflix on her laptop. She fell asleep watching Funny Lady, the sequel to her all time favorite Barbra Streisand movie, Funny Girl. She stared at the clock sleepily, wishing she could push time back. She only slept for two hours. She was going to suffer in school, she thought miserably. Even she knew with her limited exposure to the school system that sleeping in class was not tolerated.

She grabbed the dark jeans from her desk chair and quickly threw them on. She opted for a Wicked t-shirt, and scrambled around the room to get her school things in her backpack. She was actually running late because she had smacked the snooze several times on her alarm. She was just so tired.

She was five minutes late to school, and had to get a pass from the office to go to class. Everyone stared at her as she walked in ten minutes after school started. She ducked her head so no one would see the unnaturally red tint of her cheeks. She caught Quinn's eye, and quickly avoided her gaze. She didn't need to hear it after the night she had.

Worst of all, there was a surprise quiz in math. Rachel could barely keep her eyes open, and felt her eyes drifting close. She thought a minute or two wouldn't be so bad. She was startled awake, and when she realized where she was and what had woken her up, the girl gulped. Mrs. Anderson was standing in front of her with an angry expression on her face. Maybe angry wasn't the right word, but she was still upset.

"Rachel, I would like you to stay back during recess so we could talk." Rachel nodded, unable to say anything to defend herself. Several of her classmates snickered at her position. She ignored them.

She watched sadly as all her classmates exited the room for first recess, wishing she could go along as well. Mrs. Anderson made her take her quiz, and watched her the entire time she took it. Rachel could feel her eyes on her every time her pencil moved.

She got up to turn in her quiz. "Now Rachel, I want to know why you fell asleep."

Rachel looked down. "I'm sorry Mrs. Anderson, it won't happen again."

"That's not what I asked." Rachel knew that. She didn't want to tell her the real reason because then her dad could get in trouble. Nine year olds weren't supposed to be left at home alone, especially at night.

"I know." Rachel said solemnly. "I had a nightmare, and couldn't get back to sleep." Mrs. Anderson stern expression softened as she listened to the girl's explanation.

"Okay I understand Rachel, if it happens again though I am going to have to call home." Rachel nodded and promised it would never happen again. She knew it wouldn't bode well if she drew a lot of attention to herself. Her dad had told her that she was not to get into trouble at all, or there would be consequences.

She took a seat at her desk. She pulled a book out and read until her classmates returned a few minutes later. She was able to stay awake for the rest of the day, and was glad when school was finally let out.

Today she actually knew her bus number, and took the bus home. "Oh look it's big nose." Melanie, a girl who teased her constantly when they younger said loudly for everyone to hear. Melanie loved to pick on Rachel, and was delighted when she saw her the other day on the playground. She was smart enough not to do anything with Santana around.

"Shut up Melanie," Rachel screamed with tears in her eyes.

"Oh are you going to go cry to mommy?" Then she laughed shrilly. "That's right you don't have a mom. You have two freaks for dads."

"Just stop it," she cried.

"No, I won't. If you can't take it, I can't imagine how you even got on Broadway. Who would want someone as ugly as you singing on their stage every night? Man hands face it, it was nothing but your imagination and need to be popular that caused you to tell that lie."

Rachel was suddenly angry. "Why are you always such a bitch?" Everyone's eyes widened, and they looked at Melanie to see what she would do.

"What did you just call me you little freak?"

"A bitch, do you need hearing aids?"

Melanie moved into Rachel's seat, and then snapped her arm back and punched Rachel in the face.

She quickly moved back into her seat when the bus stopped. Delia had been a bus driver for almost ten years, and had dealt with a lot of crap from these kids. She however, couldn't stand when bullying occurred on her bus. It was different at school because she didn't have any authority, but here on this bus the kids had to listen to her.

She had been driving this route for the last six years. She had seen how the kids had picked on Rachel before she moved, and now that she was back, they decided they needed to pick up where they ended. She saw the girl crying in her mirror, and noticed how she held her hand protectively over her eye. She sighed because some kids were obviously going to get written up.

"Rachel, who did this to you?" The girl refused to name any names. That's how most victims acted. "Did any of you see anything?" All the kids refused to meet her eyes as they shook their heads. "Well since none of you saw anything, I'm going to have to tell the principal. He will probably call all of your parents, and he will show them the footage from the camera."

The kids' heads snapped up at the mention of the camera at the front of the bus. They had forgotten that it was there. "Don't bother trying to name anyone now, you all lied. Come sit at the front of the bus Rachel." Rachel sniffed pathetically as she clutched her eye. It was throbbing. She wasn't a snitch, which is why she didn't tell the truth about Melanie. Besides, Rachel remembered telling on the girl once to the aide at recess after Melanie pushed her off the swing. Melanie only got worse after that.

She scurried off the bus at her stop. Delia tried to engage in her conversation, but she refused to open her mouth. She could feel Melanie glaring daggers at the back of her head, and didn't need to give her any more ammo.

No one was home as per usual. She was able to do her homework, and complete some light cleaning. Maybe Delia would change her mind about telling the principal because if the other kids got into trouble, they might tell him what she said.

She sighed as her tears fell onto the kitchen floor. She didn't realize when the day started that it could get worse.

Mrs. Anderson barely trusted her now. Melanie Fields was back to bullying her, and on top of that she was still tired. She ordered Chinese takeout with the money her dad left her. She sat at the kitchen table by herself, wondering what she had done wrong to warrant being left all alone. Her dads never paid much attention to her. They seemed more interested in themselves than her.

Her nannies and babysitters only told her fathers what a problem child she was. They were lies though. Nanny Jane had tried to get her to wear this hideous dress that looked like something a baby would wear, and Rachel refused. She wasn't going to go to a Broadway show dressed like that. Nanny Jane lied and told her father that she refused to get dressed, which is why they didn't go to the show. She made it seem like she threw a huge tantrum, which couldn't be further from the truth. She tried to explain her reasoning about why didn't want to wear it, but Nanny Jane didn't like to hear anyone's voice but her own.

Since Rachel was known for her tantrums and storm outs, her father believed the nanny over her. Her father punished her for that, even though she didn't get to tell her side of things. Things like that happened each time someone was left to watch over her. She never felt comfortable with any of them, or her fathers for that matter.

Things always seemed off to her. Her fathers were secretive, and Rachel had the impression they were lying to her about something. What she didn't know, but she was going to find out one of these days.

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><p>In another city, Shelby Corcoran ate dinner by herself. She stared at the chair directly across from her as she thought of the little girl who gave her life meaning. Her daughter, Rachel brought a light into her life that had dimmed significantly in the last three years.<p>

Shelby has done everything she could to find her lost child. She couldn't give up, not until her daughter was either in her arms, or… she couldn't even think of the alternative. The chair had been Rachel's. She would sit on her knees because she wanted to eat like her mommy. Shelby tried to offer her the use of a booster seat, but the girl adamantly refused. She was so damn stubborn. Shelby didn't know where she got it from; okay that was a lie. She got it from her. Rachel was a mini-Shelby.

She had opted not to move out of her house when her daughter went missing. It was the last tangible thing she had of her. She could still hear Rachel running and screaming up the stairs as she searched for her mother. She could still picture her as she decided to finger paint on the walls instead of the easel Shelby purchased.

Memories swarmed around her, and she couldn't let them go. She finished her dinner, and slowly cleaned up her mess. She completed her nightly routine, and then stood in the doorway of her daughter's room. It was exactly how she left it except that there weren't any clothes. As time went on, Shelby knew that when Rachel came back that she wouldn't be able to fit any of the clothes. She kept a few things for memories sake, but everything else was donated.

The room was painted light green with purple butterflies. The shelves were littered with books and toys. The pictures were the hardest to look at. Rachel was always smiling and happy. Shelby avoided them as much as possible because it made it hurt more. The pain was always there; it was hardest in the morning when it hit her all over again that her child was gone.

Every single morning she went through the same thing over and over. She wanted nothing more than to hold her daughter in her arms, and every morning she was forced to face reality again. The early days had been the worst. She expected Rachel to give her, her version of a wake up call, which was to sing at the top of her lungs.

Memories were all she had left of the little girl. She curled up at night with Rachel's baby blanket as she cried herself to sleep. Her baby was gone.

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><p>By Friday, Rachel had probably only gotten a total of five hours sleep the whole week. She was exhausted. Yesterday was horrible as Melanie decided to make her school life absolutely unbearable. All the kids sitting in the seats closest to them had received in school suspension. They weren't allowed to go to recess, and then they had their parents' personal punishments to deal with. No one had told on Rachel because Melanie wanted to deal with her personally.<p>

Rachel avoided looking at anyone because she didn't want them to see her black eye. She stayed away from her friends because she knew how they got when the other kids picked on her. Quinn and Santana were well liked, and she didn't want to ruin that for them. So instead of going to recess, she helped around the classroom instead. She would sit by herself in science lab, art class, and gym.

The black eye hadn't started fading yet. It was still purple, but the outside was a little green. At least it was no longer swollen. She could blink without it hurting anymore. She supposed that was progress.

Shelby was sitting in the teacher's lounge as she heard several teachers talking about what happened on one of the buses a few days ago. "Yeah, apparently Melanie Fields punched the poor girl in the face. None of the kids will say what happened, but there was a video of the whole thing. Melanie started it. She was in my class last year. A lot of the kids were scared of her."

Shelby groaned. She had dealt with Melanie a few times herself. The kid was a menace, and her parents kept making excuses for their child's behavior.

"Oh Carrie, I remember that poor, sweet little girl Rachel from my second grade class. She's a tiny thing. Melanie was in my class that year, and although I don't have any proof, I know Melanie picked on her then. She never said anything. She just accepted it."

Shelby's stomach rolled at the thought of the little girl getting punched in the face. She wasn't sure why she cared so much. She didn't know the girl at all.

"Rachel refused to tell her bus driver what happened. The principal's hands were tied since she didn't say anything. He gave the kids each two days of in school suspension. Melanie got a whole week."

Shelby stopped listening, and decided to take her leave. Rachel's class would be in her room after recess. She couldn't help but feel for her. The kid didn't seem like she had the greatest home life, and on top of all that she had to deal with bullies at school.

She noticed a figure sitting outside her classroom and furrowed her brow. As far as she knew the kids were supposed to be at recess. There were aides out there to prevent them from walking the halls.

As she got closer, she realized it was Rachel. She kept her head down. She didn't want to go to recess because it was getting harder to avoid her friends. "Rachel," Shelby called.

Rachel lifted her tear stained face from her knees. Shelby felt her heart breaking at the sight of the child in front of her. She kneeled next to her, and wiped a few tears away. "Hey, please don't cry." She noticed the girl's black eye and frowned. "Is that what Melanie did?"

"You heard about that?" Rachel asked fiddling with the zipper on her sweatshirt.

"It's currently the hottest gossip."

"I guess you think I am a weakling too for not being able to defend myself."

She gently grabbed the girl's face. "No of course not, I think you are plenty strong. Some times bullies pick on other's to make themselves feel good."

Rachel didn't understand that all. "How can making me feel bad about myself make Melanie feel good about herself?"

"Obviously Melanie has insecurities or problems that you don't know about. Whatever it may be, it's easier to make someone feel bad about themselves because it gives them a sense of satisfaction. They aren't the only ones who feel bad now."

Rachel crossed her arms. "Well sounds to me like she does a good job at getting satisfaction. She's bullied me since pre-school. We've been sworn enemies since I was three."

Shelby had only heard the other teachers talking about second grade. This obviously went farther back than anyone could have anticipated. "She can't bully you forever."

"Seems like she already has. It was great living in New York because she wasn't there." Rachel's eyes burned, but she was embarrassed enough for crying in front of Ms. Corcoran. "I wasn't bullied there because I was home schooled."

"I promise things will get better one day. Maybe not in the immediate future, but one day people will appreciate you for the amazing girl you are." Shelby was taken aback when the girl hugged her. She gently patted her back, though she wanted nothing more than to hold the girl in her arms forever.

"Thanks Ms. Corcoran," she had helped. "Could you maybe not mention that I was crying?"

Shelby chuckled. "My lips are sealed." Rachel giggled at how silly her teacher was being. She actually zipped up her lips. "Now come on, you can help me set up for your classmates today."

Rachel readily agreed. She set out the different instruments, and helped sort out the music for today's lesson. Ms. Corcoran was easy to talk to, and Rachel found herself talking quite a bit. "Have you been to New York before?"

"Yeah, it was great."

"I love it there. I want to go back once I graduate high school. The Tisch School of Arts at NYU is where I want to go. I mean yeah I played Cosette for two years, but I want to be the star one day."

Shelby was amused by the girl as she reminded her so much of her own Rachel. "So you like Broadway?" Rachel nodded her head enthusiastically. "What's your favorite show?"

"Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand, it is a classic. I mean I know I wasn't alive at the time, but I've seen the movie. The Broadway production must have been amazing. Besides that though since technically it doesn't count, I love Wicked. It's spectacular. Annie was great too. I've seen some other shows here and there, but I was never allowed to see some of the more adult shows."

Shelby frowned. "I should hope not. Some of them are not appropriate for children."

Rachel pouted at that. "But those are some of the best ones like Rent. My dad wouldn't let me see the movie. He said there were some things that were too grown up for me." She knew she was whining, but she didn't care.

"Rachel," she said sharply, startling both herself and the child.

Rachel's headed tilted ever so slightly. She swore that action seemed overly familiar.

"I'm sorry about that just now." Truly, Shelby was not sure where her reaction had come from. Rachel reminded her way too much of her own child.

"Do you have any kids Ms. Corcoran?"

Shelby took a deep breath. This was becoming all too much for her, but she couldn't breakdown in front of a classroom full of children or a child in this case. "Yes, I have a daughter who is about your age."

"What's her name?" Rachel thought this girl must be lucky to have someone like Ms. Corcoran as her mother.

"Rachel like your own, but she uh isn't living with me." Shelby fibbed a bit, not wanting to scare the girl.

Rachel frowned at that. "I'm sorry. So is she nine or ten cause I'm nine."

"I didn't realize that. She's nine. Her birthday is later this year."

"Mine too, I started kindergarten when I was four."

"You must be really smart then."

Rachel shrugged. "I think it was because my dad's wanted to get rid of me. I would graduate way before I turned eighteen, and then they would be done with me. It's okay though. I can start pursuing my dreams much earlier."

Shelby was amazed how fast the girl could bounce back. Before she could say anything else, the class started filing in. She patted the girl's head before going to the front of the room. She waited at the door, and greeted each student as they walked in.

Quinn was one of the first people to arrive. She high tailed it over to her friend to find out what her problem was. Quinn was positive she hadn't done anything wrong, and she knew that Rachel had some sort of issue on the bus a few days before. However, Rachel refused to talk about anything, and Quinn had only caught a glance of the black eye her friend was sporting. She wasn't going to let Rachel escape this time.

"Rachel, please tell me what is going on. I heard Melanie Fields punched you on the bus." God, she hated that Melanie Fields. She was the worst type of person imaginable. She had started picking on Rachel when they were only three years old, and somehow managed to be in her class every single year. Luckily, she was in a different class.

"I'm a loser. That is what's wrong. Why would you want to be friends with someone as weak as me?"

Quinn's lips thinned. She hated when Rachel got like this. "I want to be your friend because you pushed Jacob Ben Israel after he stole my cookies. You told him that it wasn't my fault he had eaten all of his. He never messed with me after that, and even now he is still terrified of you."

A small smile graced Rachel's face. She had forgotten all about that incident. "He deserved it. I remember at Temple he refused to look my way."

"I knew I wanted you on my side that day. You stuck up for me, and you didn't even know who I was. You are strong."

"Quinn's right, loathe as I am to admit it." Quinn stuck her tongue out. Santana rolled her eyes. "You never backed down to anyone except Melanie. I don't know why you let her bother you. You're the one who gives her the power to do that."

"I'm sorry how terribly I have treated you guys. I just didn't want you guys to know that you have such a pathetic friend."

"We know you're not. I will take care of Melanie. You can ride home with me if you want to avoid her."

"Your mom won't mind?"

Santana waved her arm. "Nah, she won't. She always liked you." The girls settled in their seats as Ms. Corcoran came in. Music class was fun. Rachel got to play the tambourine, which wasn't too hard to play. At least she knew how to read music after playing the violin and piano, and of course singing.

The school day soon ended, and all the kids waved goodbye to Ms. Corcoran. "Have a great day Ms. Corcoran, and I will see you next week. Thanks again for everything." Rachel smiled at her as she exited the room.

Mrs. Lopez beamed at Rachel as she got in the car. The girl had grown some, although it wasn't that much of an improvement. She was such a tiny thing. She dropped her off, and watched her as she entered the house. She was upset that the girl's father wasn't home. She hoped he didn't leave her alone for too long.

Rachel was thinking about Ms. Corcoran, and remembered how she was supposed to Google her a few days ago. Now was as good of a time as any.

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><p><strong>AN- Things will really start picking up next chapter. Rachel's curiosity is getting the best of her. Who has a Melanie in their life? Maybe not the punching part, but certainly the verbal part. **


	3. Safe

**A/N- So this chapter sets the story in motion. Things will be getting crazy from this point forward. I don't own Glee, or any of its' characters sadly. **

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><p>Thanks to the talk Ms. Corcoran gave her, Rachel remembered to search her on Google. She was curious. She carefully spelled out Corcoran, and several links popped up. A lot of them said CORCORAN GIRL STILL MISSING. She opened the first one, and read the article. Apparently, Rachel Corcoran was three years old when she had been abducted from the park. She was with a babysitter at the time, and the babysitter had taken a phone call. When she looked back, poor little Rachel was gone.<p>

Rachel felt tears stream down her face but ignored them. Remembering how Ms. Corcoran said her daughter was Rachel's age, made the girl more upset. She understood now why she said that her daughter didn't live with her. She read the rest of the articles. The cops had declared the girl dead after five years had passed. The girl now understood Ms. Corcoran's reaction to her name. Her daughter shared the name with her, and from the pictures in the articles, they were happy together, so happy.

Later that night after she had dinner, Rachel laid on her bed thinking about her music teacher. In her dreams that night, her face replaced the blurry one of her mother in her dreams.

"_Rachel," her mommy called. Rachel's head snapped up. She knew that tone. It was the "you are in trouble" tone. _

"_Yes mommy?" The girl answered, leaving her room. She tried to look as innocent as possible._

"_Did you use mommy's make-up?" Rachel's eyes widened._

"_No, why's you tink dat?" She battered her eyelashes and smiled._

_Shelby cocked an eyebrow at her daughter. "Oh I don't know, maybe because you still have some lipstick on your face, or the fact that there are Rachel sized handprints on the walls?" _

_Rachel's hands moved to cover her backside. She knew her mother was going to spank her; she didn't like them. She knew her mommy loved her, and hated punishing her. However, sometimes Rachel was naughty, and her mommy had to. She always held Rachel afterwards while she cried. _

"_I sorry," she sniffled. She didn't like when her mother was mad at her. "I din't mean it."_

_Shelby put her hands on her hips. "I know baby, but I warned you before that you weren't allowed to play with my make-up. You deliberately disobeyed me." She picked up Rachel, and carried her into the girl's bedroom. "I'm only going to give you three swats, and then I will hold you afterwards." She felt Rachel nod against her shoulder. _

_Rachel cried as her mother swatted her, and cried into her arms as her mother rocked her to sleep. _

"_I love you sweetheart, so much." She felt her mother's lips against her head. _

"_I love you mama," the girl murmured sleepily. _

Rachel sat up quickly in her bed. It couldn't be true. Ms. Corcoran couldn't be her mom. It was probably just because she was thinking about her and her daughter all night. That wasn't a real memory. It couldn't be.

She tried to go back to sleep, but no matter how much she tried, her mind refused to shut up. She was going to find proof that her fathers didn't kidnap her. They may be distant, but that didn't mean the stole her from someone else. She crawled out of bed, and crept down the stairs into the office. She knew her dad had never come home the night before, which she was perfectly okay with. The office had all the old family albums, and her fathers put all the pictures from her childhood in them. She just needed to find the one from when she was a baby.

She poured through all of them, but couldn't find any that had pictures of her before around age three. She found it strange, but that didn't mean anything. She decided to go through her dad's desk. The bottom drawer was locked, but Rachel knew where the key was hidden. Inside were pictures of Rachel taken at a park, walking down an unfamiliar street with a woman. She pulled out the photos, and then she found articles about the Corcoran girl. There were plenty of notes on the sides of the columns.

_She doesn't suspect a thing. _

_Leroy should take Rachel out of town while they search. _

_Looking at the babysitter_

_No proof of being at the park_

Rachel gasped and shook her head as the tears poured out of her eyes. She found more papers, a fake birth certificate. There were other documents that helped the Berry men keep Rachel. There were papers from a therapist that said that Rachel had invented a mom because she wanted a female presence in her life.

Rachel stifled another sob as she realized that the lady she talked to, as a toddler, was a therapist. She remembered how the lady refused to believe her when she insisted that she had a mommy, and that the two men she was living with weren't her daddies. She saw that woman for most of her early childhood. She helped Rachel forget that she had a mom because she told her that she had made her up.

The girl was suddenly angry. She didn't understand why this was happening. She had planned to prove that her dads were her dads, but instead proved the opposite. Not only were they not her dads, they were her kidnappers. Rachel was disgusted, not only with them but herself. She put all the documents and pictures back where she found them and locked the drawer.

She then formulated a plan because she wanted her mother. She was sure her mom wanted her too from the look on her face. She was going to get to the bottom of this.

Rachel chewed on her lip nervously. It was Saturday, and Hiram was home. He seemed in a good mood, and Rachel wanted answers. She wanted to know why they didn't have any baby pictures of her. She was prepared to argue, but deep down Rachel knew the truth. She wished it wasn't true; otherwise her teacher had been hurting all these years because of her. All she had done was push the memories and thoughts of her mother aside because her fathers and therapist told her she was nothing but a figment of her imagination.

She found Hiram in his office. "Dad," she winced. She was almost positive he wasn't her dad.

His eyes looked up to meet hers. "Yes Rachel?" He asked with an annoyed expression on his face.

She twiddled her thumbs, unsure of how to go about this. "Well, my teacher assigned us a project. We are supposed to bring in baby pictures, and I checked all the family albums. However, there don't seem to be any photos of me until I was three."

Rachel noticed how his lips thinned in anger. "Rachel, what have I told you about going into my office?"

"Not to, but you weren't home and I needed the pictures. Would you rather me fail?"

"No of course not. We don't have any. They burned in a fire."

Instead of soothing the girl, it did the opposite. "Are you sure? I don't remember you guys ever saying anything about a fire."

He slammed his hand onto his desk, startling the girl. "Damn it Rachel, I just fucking told you that there was a fire."

She crossed her arms. "I don't believe you. I don't think you're my father. I was researching the last name Corcoran, when I realized that, that Rachel's photos look a lot like mine. Can you explain that?"

Hiram's eyes were blazing. "Fine Rachel, you want to know the truth. WE took you from the park. We wanted a child, but no one wanted to give us one. We soon saw you at the park one day, and we watched you give a performance. We knew you were the one."

"How could you do that to me? I was happy. I had a home. I had a mom."

"You don't have a mother. You have two dads."

"You're not my father. I'm not your child. You made me think I was crazy. Parents don't do that to their children. I was convinced that I had a mother, and that I knew her. You paid that therapist to tell me that everything was all a part of my imagination."

Hiram was out of his seat before Rachel could blink. He grabbed the girl by her arm, and dragged her up the stairs. "Where are we going?" The girl cried.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson." He was pissed. His world was falling apart in front of his eyes. He wasn't going to let some child ruin his life. He threw her into her room causing her to stumble to the floor. "Look at me," he demanded angrily.

Slowly Rachel lifted her head to look at the man. She was scared. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. "Now you are going to keep your fucking mouth shut. If you don't well let's just say there will be consequences."

"I'm not staying here with you. You're nothing but a kidnapper."

Hiram backhanded the girl. Rachel clutched her cheek as she stopped herself from crying in front of Hiram. "I AM YOU'RE FATHER. THAT WOMAN YOU CLAIM IS YOUR MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW YOU. DO YOU SEE HER AROUND HERE? NO. I TOOK CARE OF YOU." He roughly grabbed the girl's arm, and dragged her to her closet. "YOU WILL STAY HERE UNTIL YOU CAN LEARN PROPER RESPECT. You will miss school if you can't learn to behave." With that, he slammed the door shut and locked it.

Rachel laid on the closet floor, unable to move. She never pictured their talking going that way. She didn't no how long she was left there. She thought she heard the front door shut. It was dark and quiet. She didn't like it. She quietly sang to herself as tears fell. "The sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there will be sun."

Mrs. Polasky next door had heard raised voices as she worked in her garden. Normally her neighbor was calm, but she always thought there was something off with the man. He seemed a little too polite. She noticed that the little girl had moved back in, but that Hiram was never home with her. She figured there must be a babysitter, but the only people she ever saw enter the house was the girl and Hiram.

She had raised four children; she could never leave them home alone like he left the girl alone. She watched as he angrily stormed out, and got into his car. The girl was nowhere in sight. In fact, the woman hadn't seen the girl since she was dropped off at home Friday afternoon. It was now Monday, but the girl never left the house.

She was worried, and her instincts were telling her she needed to get involved. They had never failed her before. She ran into her home and dialed 911.

"Nine-one-one, how may I help you?"

"Two days ago I heard shouting from my neighbor's house. There are only two occupants. Him and the little girl, but I haven't seen her since Friday. She normally leaves her house at seven to go school. There hasn't been a sign of her."

"Okay ma'am, I am sending someone over right away."

"Thank you."

Mrs. Polasky watched as officers rang the doorbell fifteen minutes later. No one answered. The broke the door down, and stormed the house.

Rachel had lost track of time. She didn't know Saturday from Monday, nine in the morning from nine at night. It was just dark.

She heard footsteps, and pushed herself against the wall. She cowered in fear, hoping Hiram wasn't coming for her.

Officer Williams was good at his job. There wasn't something not right about this house. For one, if there was a little girl living here, how come there were no toys, or anything that signified a child lived here. While his fellow officers scoured the first floor, he went up to the second. He easily distinguished which bedroom was the girl's. Everything seemed mostly undisturbed.

The woman who had called in had mentioned the girl never left the house. She wasn't downstairs though, and her room showed no signs of her. He looked around for clues when he noticed the closet. It wouldn't hurt to give it a look. He attempted to pull open the door when he noticed it was locked. That was strange since closets didn't normally have locks.

He kicked the door open. At first, nothing stuck out until he noticed movement. There it was again. There was someone in here. He tried to get closer, but noticed that the girl cowered in fear. "Please don't hurt me," she sobbed. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Officer Williams. Can you tell me yours?"

"Rachel," she whispered softly.

"Well Rachel, I'm going to help you, but I need to get you out of the closet."

"I don't want to get into trouble. He told me that he would let me out when he thought I was being a good girl again."

"Rachel, he will never be able to hurt you again."

He heard a sniffle, and then he saw a small hand. "Do you promise?"

"I will make sure he never does."

He saw the other hand. He watched as the small girl crawled from the back of the closet. "Can you tell me how long you have been in here?"

"I don't know. A few days, I guess. It was Saturday."

"Well, it's Monday morning now."

"He told he me he didn't care if I missed school. It would have been entirely my fault if I had."

"None of this is your fault." He gently led the girl out of the closet. That's when he saw the bruising on her cheek. "Did he do that?"

The girl tenderly touched her cheek and hissed in pain. "I forgot about it. Can I have some food?"

Officer Williams hadn't even thought of the possibility the girl starving. "Not yet, we have to take you to the hospital."

The girl stiffened at the mention of a hospital. "Please don't make me go there," tears spilled from her eyes.

"We need to make sure you're healthy."

"Can you call my mom? I want my mom." She begged desperately.

"Do you know your mom's number?" The girl shook her head. "Do you know her name?"

"Shelby Corcoran," she whispered before fainting.

Officer Williams yelled upstairs from upstairs for a medic. The girl had completely passed out. He checked her pulse and breathing, and sighed in relief when he realized that she was at least alive.

It took another ten minutes for the paramedics to get there. The girl was still unconscious as they loaded her into the ambulance.

Matt Williams had to go down to the station to get information on the girl's mother. He wanted to do anything he could to possibly help the girl. Others were already searching for her father.

Once at his desk he pulled up records of Shelby Corcoran when a buddy of his stopped to talk to him. "Hey man, heard about the girl you helped this morning."

"Yeah, she seemed terrified. I'm actually here to get information to contact her mother."

His friend had a strange look on his face as he glanced at the name. "What?"

"You don't remember the Corcoran case. It was about six years ago, three year old daughter of single mother was kidnapped under the care of the babysitter. It caused a media frenzy. The girl was never found. Are you sure you got the right name?"

"Yeah the girl said her mother's name was Shelby Corcoran. She was definitely sure of that."

"What was the girl's name?"

"Told me her name was Rachel."

"Oh man, this case just bigger. I think we found Rachel Corcoran. I was one of the officers called to the scene. This was when I was working in Akron. It was one of my first cases. I had nightmares for weeks." Derek told Matt. "I kept picturing the mother's expression as we told her that we couldn't find a trace of her daughter."

"Man, I'm sorry."

Derek waved his friend off. "Don't worry about it, I might able to help return her daughter to her. I'm going to need finger printer from the girl. We lifted some from her bedroom, and if we can match them…" he cut himself off. Matt understood what he meant though.

"I'll take care of it. I'm going back to the hospital. I'll have to call later since this case will cause a lot of alarms to go off. If this girl is the missing Corcoran girl, we can expect the media to get involved at some point."

At the hospital, the nurses told him that the girl still hadn't woken up. A social worker from CPS had been sent over. "Hi Officer William, I'm Rebecca Porter. I was assigned to Rachel. I've been told you were the one who found her."

Matt rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit. "Yeah, she had been in there for two days without food or water. She basically told me she was being punished. I had to talk her out because she was terrified. She also told me something else."

Rebecca looked up from her notes. "Oh what is it?"

"She told me the name of her mother. The problem is that it connects to another case from six years ago in Akron."

The social worker's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Can you tell me about the case?"

"Okay full disclosure, I think Rachel here is a kidnap victim. I'm pretty sure she is the missing Corcoran girl that disappeared when she was three years old."

Rebecca pursed her lips. She hadn't expected him to tell her that. She thought she might have to place Rachel in a foster or group home. "Do you have a way to prove that she is Rachel Corcoran without contacting the mother for a DNA test?" She didn't want to put anyone through any unnecessary duress.

"I have to get her prints. A friend of mine at the station worked the original case. He says that her prints are already in the system. Of course, this is going to cause some problems."

Rebecca knew that. As soon as the girl's prints were loaded into the system, things were going to get hectic. "Why don't you take them while the girl is sleep."

Matt nodded and did as he was told. He watched the young girl sleep, and marveled at how much younger she looked. She didn't look like your average nine year old. She was much smaller.

Rebecca sat with the sleeping girl. If the officer was right, things were going to get messy. Instead of dealing with just child abuse, they would have a case of kidnap on their hands. Officer Williams didn't return for a few hours, and when he did, his expression was grim. He nodded his head.

"I had to call it in. Someone will be contacting the girl's mother soon. The media are going to get ahold of this soon. Reporters are always digging around for a good story."

Rebecca knew that all too well. They hoped her mother was contacted before the media found out. Otherwise it was going to be hard getting her in and out of the hospital.

Shelby was teaching her fifth graders a new song. She was a little saddened when she noticed that Rachel wasn't there. She figured the girl might be sick or something. She tried to focus on her class, but she had a feeling that something was going to happen. She couldn't help the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that was telling her something was wrong.

There was a knock on her door, and she turned to see Ms. McDonald with a grim expression on her face. Shelby's heart sunk. She wasn't sure what it meant, but it couldn't mean anything good. "Ms. Corcoran, you're needed in the front office. I can watch your students. We've called in a sub who should be here shortly."

Shelby walked quickly to the office, and stopped when she saw the officer waiting. She had no doubts in her mind that he was there for her. The officer looked up as he heard her approach.

"Ms. Corcoran, I presume?"

"Yes, what exactly is this all about?"

"Today a call was received by an emergency responder by a concerned neighbor. Officers arrived on the scene, and discovered a young girl locked in a closet." Shelby's eyes widened. "She refused to come out at first, but when she did she gave your name." Shelby crinkled her brow. "You're not in trouble. She told them that you were her mother."

Shelby's hand came up to cover her mouth as she shook her head. "To determine whether or not she was your daughter, we took her prints and ran them against the ones from the ones lifted from her bedroom six years ago. It was a perfect match."

Shelby felt the tears on her cheeks but ignored them. "Where is she?"

She noticed the officer seemed hesitant to respond. "She is currently in the hospital. She was suffering from starvation and dehydration. Luckily that seems to be the worst of it besides a nasty bruise on her cheek and a black eye. I'm here to escort you to the hospital."

Shelby nodded her head as she followed the officer out of the building. She was in shock. Her wish was coming true. She had prayed every night for her little girl to come back to her, and it was actually happening. She was being taken to the girl who had changed her life forever. Rachel had made Shelby a mother, the best job in the world.

Rachel's eyes fluttered slightly. Her head hurt, and her mouth was kind of dry. She forced her eyes to open, and her eyes narrowed when she realized where she was. She didn't want to be here. She hated hospitals. She tried to rip the IV out of her arm, but was stopped.

"Not so fast," a nurse said to her. "I know you're probably scared, but the IV is helping you. You were extremely dehydrated when you came in."

Rachel whimpered. "Please let me leave, I want to leave. I don't like hospitals. I want my mom." The girl wailed pathetically.

The nurse was taken aback. "Sweetheart, I need you to calm down. You want to get better don't you?"

Rachel nodded, sniffling. "I need you to lay back down." Rachel did as she was told. "I'm going to go get you lunch. You must be starving." Now that Rachel thought about it, she was beyond hungry. If the officer was right, and it was Monday, that would mean she hadn't eaten in over two days.

Rachel tried to relax, but she couldn't. She didn't feel safe. Didn't that officer say he would protect her, where was he? She tried not to think about it too much, but it bothered her immensely.

She heard the click of heels in the hospital and frowned. She knew that sound from somewhere. She listened for voices, and was surprised when she recognized one of them. "Are you sure she will be fine? I don't know if I should go in there. What if she's scared of me? Or thinks I abandoned her?"

"Ms. Corcoran, relax, Rachel seems like she's a bright girl. I'm sure she knows you didn't want this to happen. She is probably desperate to see you." The nurse on call told her, she had just woken up. Shelby's heart clenched in anticipation, she wasn't sure why she was so nervous. This was her child after all. She carried her for nine months, and had loved her from the moment she realized she existed.

Rebecca opened the door for the young mother. She watched with rapt attention as the mother's eyes scanned her daughter's form. Her eyes never moved away from the girl. She saw a mother's unconditional love all over the woman's face.

Shelby hesitated in the doorway at the sight of her daughter. She wasn't sure how well she would be received.

"Rachel," Shelby said tentatively. She wasn't supposed to be afraid of her own child.

Rachel rolled over to look at her mom. Tears threatened to fall as she looked at the woman who had given her life. The woman who had plagued her dreams for the last six years; the one she knew was very much real. "Mommy?" She said hesitantly.

That was all Shelby needed before she was across the room and scooping the girl into her arms. She was mindful of the IV in her arm. Both mother and daughter clung to each other, never wanting to let go. Rachel cried into her mother's chest, as she finally felt safe. In her mother's arms, she knew nothing could hurt her. Her mother wouldn't let it happen.

"I'm so sorry baby." Shelby whispered over and over again into Rachel's hair.

"Me too mommy, me too." She grasped the bottom of her mother's shirt, and let herself be held. Shelby knew how much her daughter had always loved physical affection. Rachel often slept in her bed because she liked being held. The mother would hold her daughter forever if she could.

She pulled back so she could look her over. She gently rubbed where Hiram had smacked her. She noticed Rachel wince, and so she gently kissed her cheek. Neither of them talked for a longtime. They took comfort in one another's presence.

Finally Rachel decided to make the first step. "I thought you were supposed to be teaching my class today."

Shelby chuckled humorlessly. "Baby, I could care less about my job right now. You are so much more important." Weirdly enough Rachel believed her, and wrapped her arms around her mother's waist. "You're still an itty bitty thing. You always were on the small side, ever since you were born."

"I'm not small." The girl huffed.

"Honey, are you even four feet?" Her mother teased.

Rachel pulled back. "Of course I am." She cried indignantly. "I'll have you know I'm four, nine."

"Princess, that is short." Rachel crossed her arms. "None of that now, I remember you tantrums as a toddler."

Rachel flushed. "I never threw a tantrum." She lied through her teeth.

Shelby lifted a brow. Rachel had heard about the 'mom' brow from her friends, but never really believed them until now. "Really, cause I remember having to drag you out of the store once because you were angry that I wouldn't buy you some stupid cereal with a character on the front."

"Sounds too dramatic even for me."

"Rach, we may have spent some time apart, but I always know when you are lying. You have a tell."

Rachel twirled a strand of hair. "I do not."

"Yes you do."

"What is it then?"

Shelby looked at her daughter incredulously. "Do you really think I am going to tell you?"

"No, which is completely unfair."

"Rachel, you're a kid. Kids find everything their parents do to be unfair."

Rachel shrugged her shoulders, unsure of how to take that comment.

"When can I go home with you?"

"Soon baby," she kissed her forehead.

"Were my walls green?" She was remembering her dream.

Shelby pulled away for a second to stare at her daughter. "Yes, how did you know that?"

"I had a dream. I was in a green room with purple butterflies on the walls. You spanked me for playing with your make-up."

Shelby's eyes widened. She had forgotten all about that. "Yeah I was pretty angry. I gave you three swats, but I think you cried less from the pain and more because you thought I was being mean."

"I was probably mad I got caught. I knew I wasn't supposed to do it. However, I do a lot of things I'm not supposed to do."

Didn't Shelby know it? "You were quite the troublemaker. You pushed your older cousin Sam into the pool because he wouldn't pay attention to you."

"I have a cousin?"

Shelby realized that while the girl held some memories, she didn't remember everything. She was still a baby after all. "My sister who is your aunt has three kids. Sam is the oldest. He's fourteen now. He was eight at the time, and you got angry and pushed him."

Rachel grinned. "Stop that," Rachel's head snapped up. She tried to look the picture perfect of innocence. "I know you were smirking."

"H-how did you know that?" Rachel was sure that her mother hadn't been looking at her.

"I'm your mother. You may be older, but you're still Rachel. When you think someone deserves revenge, you make sure to give it to them."

Rachel ducked her head. That was her to a tee. "Don't bother going after Melanie when you get back to school."

"Aw mommy," Rachel whined. "She punched me in the face. I think it's time to get back at her. She's pushed me off the swings. She stole my Barbie doll that I brought for show and tell in pre-school."

Shelby rolled her eyes at her daughter. "Rachel have you ever heard of the saying an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind?"

Rachel stared at her mother like she was crazy. That saying didn't even make sense. Shelby could tell by the girl's expression she hadn't. "Basically two wrongs don't make a right. Just because she did mean stuff to you, doesn't mean you have to do mean stuff back."

Rachel bit her lip. She wondered how her mother would feel if she found out what she called Melanie on the bus. Shelby palmed her face. "What did you do?"

"I uh may have called her name on the bus before she punched me. She called me stuff first."

Shelby had dealt with the logic of children for five years now. They were almost as irrational as teenagers. She shivered at the thought of a teenage Rachel. She just got her back, and didn't need to think of her all grown up just yet.

"I called her a bitch."

Shelby glared at her child. "Where did you hear that word?"

Rachel was taken aback by her mother's tone. She knew it to be the no nonsense one that stood out more in her memory. "I heard it."

"That didn't answer my question."

"Some people in Les Mis said it Karen who played Eponine."

"I don't want to ever hear that word out of your mouth again. Do you hear me? I will wash your mouth out with soap if I hear a swear word come from your mouth."

Rachel hung her head and mumbled a soft yes. She didn't enjoy being in trouble. "I know it is hard to understand the rules I have set for you, but I want you to know it is because I love you."

Rachel smiled warmly at her mother. Her whole demeanor brightened. "I love you too even when you're being unfair." She pouted.

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><p><strong>AN- How long do you think Rachel can avoid getting into trouble in her mother's house? There will be more memories to come, but Rachel isn't going to remember everything as she was only three. The only reason she remembers some things is cause she clung to them and they seeped into her unconscious.**


	4. Comfort

**A/N- Thank you to everyone who is reading. I love reading reviews. There will be a few things happening this chapter. In my mind, I can see how I want the story to go, and I've got a lot of future chapters written. It's just hard filling the in-between. Unfortunately, I don't own Glee or its characters.**

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><p>Shelby stayed with Rachel until she fell asleep. An officer wanted to speak with her, and Shelby gently kissed Rachel's head. "I'll be back baby."<p>

She stepped into the hallway, and was rewarded with the sight of a familiar face. Detective Henry was one of the detectives on the original case. Shelby shook his hand. "It's nice to see you again."

"Yes, it is under better circumstances. I can't believe that she was so close. The Berry men were arrested hours ago. Leroy Berry is currently in New York, where they will actually be charging him there. Rachel had resided with him in New York so the case actually crossed state lines. The therapist that was hired to treat her has been arrested. She is denying any wrongdoing."

Shelby wrung her hands. "Can I ask how no one realized who she was? It seems odd that she lived only an hour away, but there wasn't a single report."

Detective Henry shifted. "Well, they were analyzing evidence when we found pictures of her. They had lightened Rachel's hair significantly. They drew freckles onto her face. It seems that only as she got older did they stop because it seemed less likely someone would discover her."

"They dyed my child's hair? She was toddler. I can't believe someone would go to these lengths to kidnap and keep someone else's child. I just don't understand why it was her. Why not someone else's kid? I guess that makes me sound selfish."

Detective Henry shook his head. "No, it doesn't. Many parents feel the exact same way in these types of cases. From what we could gather, they took a liking to your daughter after they saw her perform for other children in the park one day. They had tried adopting and going the surrogacy route, but plans fell through with that. After their attempt at surrogacy failed when the mother decided to keep her child, it looks like they made the decision to find a child they thought would fit them best."

Shelby covered her mouth as she stared at him in horror. "They followed up on any leads that police may have had and planned accordingly. One of them would take the girl out of town when they thought the police were a little too close for comfort. Then they ended up getting a divorce, which led one of them relocating to New York City, and taking your daughter with him."

"Did you know either of them men?"

Shelby shook her head. "I think I may have seen them at the park once when I was with Rachel. I assumed that they had a child there, or were walking through. Trust me when I say if I had known what they were up to my child would never have gone to that park again."

Inside the hospital room, Rachel shot up in bed terrified after her nightmare. Her mother was gone, and Leroy and Hiram were dragging her away. "Mommy," she cried. Her mother wasn't there. It had all been a dream. She was still alone, which made her cry harder.

Shelby rushed into the room at the sound of her daughter's sobs. "Rach, baby are you alright?"

Rachel rubbed her eyes and stared at her mom. She was here. She didn't leave. "Mama, you're real." She said in amazement.

Shelby wasn't really sure what to say to the girl. She did what she knew how to do best, which was offer her daughter comfort. Rachel snuggled into her mother's body with her head on her chest. She inhaled softly, smelling her mother's perfume. It brought forth another memory.

_It was just a week before the events that changed their lives. Rachel was upstairs in her mother's bedroom, waiting while she showered. She was bored, as her show had ended a few minutes before. _

_She hopped off the bed to find something to do. She knew she shouldn't be going through her mother's belongings, but there was nothing else to do. She sat in front of the vanity, and chose to ignore the make-up. She could still feel the sting on her butt from that one. Instead she picked up a bottle with liquid in it. She had seen her mommy spray herself with it. It always made her smell like her. Rachel loved the smell; it made her feel safe and loved. _

_She unscrewed the top when it tumbled from her hands. She watched as the liquid poured onto the carpet. Her mother was going to kill her. Rachel quickly grabbed the bottle and set it back on the vanity. She hoped her mother didn't notice the now empty bottle or the wet spot on the carpet. _

_She smiled innocently at her mother when she exited the bathroom a few minutes later. Shelby stared dubiously at her mischievous child. That smile was a little too innocent for her taste. She put her hands on hips and raised an eyebrow at the girl._

_Rachel ducked her head as she tried to avoid eye contact with her mom. Shelby then noticed that the carpet was soaked. What the hell had her child done?_

"_Rachel, sweetie can you tell me why my floor is wet?"_

_Rachel shook her head. "You know how mommy feels about lying. Do you want to go into timeout?"_

_Rachel's head snapped up instantly. She hated timeout. It was boring and you couldn't make a single sound. She had to stand there until her mommy had decided she had been punished enough. Then her mom always talked afterwards. _

"_I'm really sorry." She wailed. "I didn't mean it. I accinetly spilled your perfume on the floor."_

_Shelby sighed as she picked her little girl. The girl rubbed her tear stained and snotty face all over her mother's shirt. Shelby didn't say anything because she was used to this from her child. She wasn't sure when Rachel would grow out of this habit. _

"_I'm not mad. You said it was an accident, right?" _

_Rachel sniffed and pulled away from her mama. "Yes, I wanted to hold it and then it fell. I gots it all over."_

_Shelby kissed the girl's head. She patted her little bottom as the girl's tears were soon reduced to hiccups. "It's okay baby, you aren't in trouble. But next time how about you stay away from my vanity. Bad things seem to happen each time."_

_Rachel nodded, snuggling into her mother's chest. Her mom had recently stopped giving her milk. She didn't like that very much. Her mama's milk was the best. _

_By the time Shelby had attempted to take care of the mess, the carpet was dry. It smelled like vanilla. _

_She found Rachel laying on that part of the floor just playing with her toys. When Shelby asked why that particular spot, her daughter responded with, "Cus it smells like you Mama." Shelby smiled at that. _

Rachel smiled into her mother's chest. "You smell the same." She murmured.

"You remember that?" Shelby asked.

Rachel nodded. "I've got bits and pieces. The smell of your perfume made me remember the time I spilled the entire bottle on the carpet in your room."

Shelby cocked an eyebrow at Rachel's choice of words. "I remember you said it was an accident."

Rachel's eyes widened. She pulled away to smile at her mom. "It was."

"I guess we will be having lots of conversations about lying. I should have known you were lying back then too. The cap was loose."

Rachel grinned. "I liked how it smelled. That place on the carpet reminded me of you when you weren't home."

"I'm glad. Still though, that perfume isn't cheap."

"I'm sorry Mama." She apologized with her big, sad eyes.

Shelby could never stay mad at her child long. Even when she was in trouble, and now that she was back with her, Shelby had to start practicing the word no again. She couldn't let her daughter get away with everything.

The mother kissed her daughter's head and softly sang to her.

Baby mine, don't you cry

Baby mine, dry your eyes

Rest your head close to my heart

Never to part, baby of mine.

Little one when you play

Don't you mind what they say

Let those eyes sparkle and shine

Never a tear, baby of mine.

If they knew sweet little you

They'd end up loving you too

All those same people who scold you

What they'd give just for

The right to hold you.

From your head to your toes

You're not much, goodness knows

But you're so precious to me

Cute as can be, baby of mine

Rachel was snoring softly by the end of the song. It was Shelby's go to song when she wanted Rachel to sleep. She marveled at her young, sleeping child. Rachel was her entire life, and she would do anything to make sure the girl knew that. Shelby was well aware that what lied ahead was going to be difficult, but they would get through it together. It would be a healing process for the both of them, but Shelby had a positive outlook.

It was finally later that week that Shelby carried her baby girl home for the first time in six years. Rachel had fallen asleep, while her mother completed all the paperwork to get her back into her custody. She tucked Rachel into bed, and watched her sleep. Her face made her look younger while she slumbered. She had always been small; she was almost two months premature after all.

Shelby didn't want to sleep in case this was all a dream. She never wanted to lose her daughter again. She could remember vividly the day she had received the phone call that had changed her entire life.

_She was sitting in class as her students finished a test. She was in her final semester of college, and was in the process of student teaching. A babysitter stayed with Rachel during the day. Linda was supposed to take Rachel to the park because Shelby wouldn't have the time once she got home._

_Her cellphone began ringing, and the mother frowned. Linda knew never to call her unless it was an emergency. Shelby's heart skipped a beat. She told her students she would be right in the hall and to continue with their test. _

"_Hello Linda, what's wrong?"_

"_Ms. Corcoran," the woman was hysterical. "I'm so sorry."_

"_What are you sorry about?" Dread crept into her heart as all the scenarios played through her head._

"_It's Rachel, she's gone. I can't find her anywhere." No, no her daughter wasn't gone. She had to have been hiding. She couldn't imagine her three year-old child all alone. It wasn't possible. A sob burst from her lips as she listened Linda tell her she called the police. She wanted do deny any of this was happening; she wanted it to be a bad dream because she couldn't live without her little girl. _

"Mommy," Rachel murmured in her sleep. Shelby pushed her hair out of her face as she stroked her hair.

"Shh, mommy is right here baby, I'm right here."

Rachel smiled contentedly. "Hold me." Her mother complied with her wishes, not that she would ever turn down an opportunity to snuggle with her daughter.

"I will love you forever and always." She whispered before letting sleep take over.

When Rachel woke up the next morning she was confused. This wasn't her bedroom at her dad's or the hospital. The walls were a pale green with purple flowers, and the carpet was lavender. She knew this room. It was the one from her dreams with her mom. That's when she remembered everything that had occurred in the last few days. She had finally found her mom.

Rachel attempted to get out of bed, but there was an arm holding her in place. She looked behind her to see her mother softly slumbering away. Her mommy needed her sleep anyways. Rachel sort of remembered the first the first time she snuck out of her crib. She had decided she was much too old to sleep in a bed with bars. She climbed over the railing, which her mom had told her never to do.

Once her tiny feet touched the floor, she pumped her fist in the air. She was victorious. She decided since she wasn't tall enough to reach the doorknob that she would sing to herself in her bedroom. Her mommy had told her she had been humming since she was baby. "The sun will come out TOMORROW," she belted out loudly. She was two, and in her mind the only way you could sing was to sing loudly. Her mother jolted awake, and rushed into her bedroom to see the pajama-clad toddler had escaped her crib.

Now Rachel knew exactly how she was going to wake up Shelby. Her mother hated when she would sing loudly in the morning because it always disrupted her sleep. In Rachel's mind though, once the sun was up everyone should be up.

Shelby was snoozing away. Her sleep hadn't been fitful like normal. She was dreaming instead of the nightmares that usually plagued her sleep.

"_Rachie," she called throughout the house. They were playing a game of hide and seek. "Come on mommy can't find you." She heard the little girl snickering, and knew exactly where she was hiding. She crept up to the coat closet, and pulled it open. She could easily see Rachel's feet, but pretended not to. "Huh, I guess I was wrong. Rachel isn't in here." She heard her giggle again. "Wait, I think I hear her." Shelby pushed the coats aside to find her laughing little girl with bright eyes._

"_You found me." She squealed, throwing her arms around her mother's waist. "Mommy, can we sing Tomorrow?" Oh dear God, Shelby thought. She used to love the adorable musical, but after hearing it played over and over again, she became fed up. _

"_How about later?"_

_Rachel stamped her foot. "No now mommy, TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I'LL LOVE YA TOMORROW, YOU'LL ALWAYS BE A DAY A-WAY." _

Shelby's eyes fluttered open as the girl sang loudly. She sat up and glared at Rachel who seemed oblivious to her mother's change of state. She was too caught up in the song. Shelby covered her mouth with her hand unable to take it anymore. While her daughter's pitch was accurate, it was the loudness that bothered her.

"Hiya mommy," she said around her hand. "I've been waiting for you to get up for like ever." She exaggerated slightly, but that's how she got what she wanted. "I'm hungry."

"Rach, I know you don't remember all that much from when you were little, but I am pretty sure you do remember when I used to tell you not to sing loudly in the morning if I was sleeping." Rachel pouted comically.

She wanted her mommy to be awake too. "But you wouldn't get up. You know once the sun is up, I'm up." Shelby knew that too. Rachel would sleep soundly through the night, but as soon as the sun touched the horizon, her sleeping child's eyes opened. She didn't know how she knew, but Rachel always knew when the sun was up.

"Okay, I'm up. Let me use the bathroom, and then I will make us some breakfast. I will meet you downstairs in five minutes." Shelby took care of her morning routine, and then met an excited Rachel in the kitchen. "What do you want for breakfast, sweetheart?"

The girl tapped her chin in thought. "Uh, eggs with cheese." Shelby rolled her eyes. Rachel had hated eggs at first, but then after eating them with cheese changed her mind. She refused to eat them plain though.

"I swear honey, it's like you never changed."

"I like what I like mom."

"I know you do sweetie." She kissed her forehead, brushing her bangs off her forehead.

Rachel bit her lip. She hoped her mom didn't take the question the wrong way. "Mom, did you-" then shook her head because she didn't want her mom to know.

Shelby turned to look at her daughter when she didn't finish. "You can tell or ask me anything. I promise I won't get mad."

Rachel raised her eyes to meet her mother's. They were filled with love and acceptance, and trust. "Did you miss me?"

"Rachel Barbra Corcoran, what kind of question is that?"

The girl shrugged. "I heard the officers talking about how some parents were glad to never see their children again." Her eyes filled with tears at the thought. "I didn't want to be one of those kids whose parents never wanted to them again."

Shelby cautiously approached her daughter. She gently cupped the girl's face with both hands to force her to look at her. "Listen to me, I would never be happy in life if I didn't have you. These last six years were the worst years of my life. I missed my early morning wake up calls. I missed watching you grow each day. I especially missed when it was just the two of us cuddled together on the couch."

Tears fell, but both females ignored them. "Mommy, I missed that too. I may not have always remembered everything, but I knew something was missing. That was you mama. My life is incomplete without you there beside me. I love you so much."

"Me too baby, more than you will ever know." Shelby hugged her tightly. Rachel pulled back when her stomach growled. She giggled at the sound. "I guess it's time to feed my hungry little monster." She tapped Rachel's nose causing the girl to squeal excitedly.

Shelby watched happily as Rachel shoveled eggs into her mouth. This was her second helping, and she chalked it up Rachel having a hollow leg. "Mama?"

"Hmm…"

"Can I go to school tomorrow?"

That was a good question. She didn't want her to get behind in her schoolwork, but she wanted to spend time with her daughter. "You can go back next week. Today and tomorrow we've got errands to run, and I want you back to perfect health before going back."

Rachel's face fell. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with her mother because she did. But no one at school knew what was going on. Her friends would probably be worried, and Rachel had forgotten to get their numbers. "What errands?"

"Well we have to buy you some clothes, and other things like that."

Rachel hadn't thought about that. She only had the clothes Rebecca had given her the night before. She also had the pajamas her mother had bought her when she was staying at the hospital. "I didn't think of that."

"That's why I'm the mama."

Rachel pursed her lips. "You can't always be right." Though she knew that her mom was always right. She never liked to be wrong.

Shelby raised her eyebrows. "Really? I remember I won a lot of arguments against a three year old."

Rachel's face faltered for a second. "Well I was three." She crossed her arms petulantly. "I didn't know how to properly argue yet."

"Whatever you say baby," she kissed her head as she picked up her plate. "Now go get showered and dressed for the day."

Rachel huffed playfully, but complied with her mother's wishes. She didn't want to get on her bad side. She could still feel the sting her mom's hand left on her butt even now. Many things weren't as clear as they once were, but her mom's spankings were something the nine year old would never forget.

Once she was dressed and ready, and her mother had cleaned up downstairs, the duo set off for the mall. Rachel sat in the backseat after her mother glared at her when she attempted to get in the front. At the mall, Rachel stared in wonder at all the stores. She had been shopping only a few times in New York, but her fath-no she had to stop thinking of them like that. They were her kidnappers. They picked out all of her clothes, and she didn't like most of them.

Her mom stood patiently behind her, while she picked out shirts, pants, skirts, and dresses to try on. Leroy and Hiram didn't like skirts, saying that they revealed too much of the girl's legs. Her mom however, didn't have a problem with the clothes her daughter chose. She loved seeing Rachel happy, and would do anything to keep that smile on her face.

She watched as Rachel walked out nervously in a black ruffled skirt and a white t-shirt. She tried to cover her legs, and Shelby frowned. "Honey, if you don't feel comfortable wearing skirts, you don't have to."

"Do you not want me to wear them?"

Shelby's eyes widened. She understood exactly what was happening. She had minored in psychology after all. "Rach, did those men tell you, you weren't allowed to wear skirts?"

Rachel looked up at her mother. "Yes, they said young girl's shouldn't show their legs. It confused me because they let me wear shorts. They said that when girl's wear skirts though that it gives guys a certain impression." The girl crinkled her brow.

Shelby groaned because she didn't want to get into this with her nine year old child. "Uh Rachel, baby we will discuss that when you get a little older. I want you to forget all about their rules. They do not matter to me. I want you to only follow the ones I set for you. Okay?"

Rachel nodded, but avoided her mother's gaze. That was going to be hard. She had lived with those rules for the last six years of her life, and they had been ingrained into her memory. She really did like the skirt though.

Shelby enjoyed watching her daughter do a bunch of silly poses. She noticed Rachel picked out clothes in every color except orange and brown. She told her mother it didn't compliment her skin tone very well. Rachel picked out several more skirts and dresses, preferring the feeling from the confinement of pants. She would wear jeans during winter, but for now she was going to soak up the rest of the warm weather for the year.

They then stopped for lunch after Rachel complained she was starving. They decided on pizza, and Rachel stared at her mother the entire time. Shelby felt somewhat self-conscious under her daughter's unwavering gaze. "Is there something on my face, honey?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, I like watching you. You're so pretty. You've got pretty eyes, and you always look graceful."

Shelby couldn't help but blush at her daughter's words. It wasn't that compliments were out of the ordinary; she just wasn't expecting her daughter to do it. "Well thank you." It was also weird her daughter had a full extensive vocabulary. Rachel had been able to speak, and her sentences were pretty good; yet she had a lisp, and was still learning new words every day.

"Mommy, do you think I will be as pretty as you when I'm older?"

The woman stared at her daughter curiously. "Of course, you are already beautiful now. They say you get more beautiful as you get older. So I expect you might be one of the most gorgeous people to walk the planet."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Mom, stop being silly, you have to say that cause you're my mom."

Shelby frowned. "First of all, don't roll your eyes at me again. I don't care if you are upset with me or not, but there are some things I won't tolerate from children. One of them is when they roll their eyes, the other is yelling or screaming at me. Do you understand?" Rachel nodded, and averted her mother's eyes. "Secondly, I would never to lie to you. At least not about something as trivial as beauty, I think you are a beautiful young girl."

The girl's chin quivered as she tried to fight off tears. "Talk to me Rach, I can't help if you don't talk to me."

She looked up at her mother with glassy eyes. "Melanie Fields calls me man hands, and other mean names. She told me I was nothing but an ugly troll."

Shelby groaned internally. She had forgotten all about the Melanie situation. Things were going to be different now because she was Rachel's mother. She wasn't going to tolerate that kind of crap happening to her daughter. "I will take care of the Melanie situation. If she bothers you again, you have to tell me."

"We also still have to have a discussion about using swear words. I want to impress upon you the seriousness of it. And know that if I found out that you have, I promise I will wash your mouth out with soap. I also do not want you to retaliate against her like I told you in the hospital. It doesn't help in the slightest." Rachel resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

They spent the rest of the day getting necessities for Rachel. By the time they were home, Rachel was asleep against the car door. Shelby smiled softly. Her daughter was still the same child who always managed to fall asleep in the car.

She knew that things would be soon complicated once the press got ahold of what happened. Leroy was apparently a well-known lawyer for celebrities back in New York, and Rachel had been quite successful as Cosette. She forced herself to stop thinking about what was soon to come and focus on the present. Being with her daughter was the best gift in the world.

She gently unbuckled Rachel, trying her best not to wake her up. She carried the small girl into the house and up to her bedroom. She still fit perfectly into her arms. She tucked her into bed after removing her shoes. She would worry about a shower later. "Night mommy," she murmured in her sleep as Shelby pecked her forehead.

She carried all of Rachel's bags into the house, but left them downstairs for them to go through the next day. She was exhausted herself and changed into her pajamas before crawling into bed. She couldn't help but feel that she was forgetting something.

The ringing of the doorbell woke Rachel up from her slumber the next morning. She had slept in a little longer than normal. She poked her head into her mother's bedroom to see the woman was still asleep. She decided to answer the door because her mother had never said anything against it.

She padded down the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She hesitantly opened the door to see an older woman who resembled her mother and an older gentleman with the same colored eyes as her mother. She felt a spark of remembrance, but that was it.

Elizabeth and John had been watching the news when a story about Rachel being found popped on. Both of their mouths dropped open in shock as the pictures of the culprits were shown on the screen. The reporter was broadcasting from outside the hospital as Rachel had been admitted after she was found locked in a closet. Elizabeth and John decided it was best to make a visit instead of trying to contact Shelby. They were glad they had come because they were staring at the sweet face of their granddaughter.

"Hi, can I help you?" She asked politely.

"I'm not sure if you remember us or not Rachel, but I'm your mother's mom and this is her dad. We are your grandparents. You called me Nana and him Pops."

A memory came to mind from when she was three.

_She was at the park with Nana and Pops. Her Poppy was pushing her on the swings, and she squealed and kicked her legs each time she got higher. "Poppy higher, push me higher." John merely chuckled at his exuberant grandchild. _

"_Rach, if you go any higher you'll be touching the clouds." He joked with the small girl._

_Rachel turned her head to stare at him with wide eyes. "Weally?"_

_John shook his head at her. "No kiddo, I was only teasing you."_

"_Nana," the little girl called out, catching Elizabeth's attention. John mock glared at her, figuring out what she was about to do. "Poppy wuz teasing Wachie again." Liz had been married to her husband for over thirty years and knew the little games he liked to play. He did it to his own girls when they were younger._

"_Tell Poppy, that he can sleep on the couch for a whole week." Liz smirked at her husband's reaction._

_Rachel turned back to her grandfather. "Poppy, Nana saided dat you can sleep on da couch."_

"_Yes, I heard little one. You are just a little tattle tale, huh?"_

_Rachel nodded her head proudly. "Mama tolded me neva tell a lie." John was slightly impressed because most of the rules that Shelby had set for Rachel were often broken by the little girl. She was too much like her mother, and could barely stay out of trouble._

"Poppy," Rachel whispered fondly. John's eyes sparkled with unshed tears. "I used to tell on you to Nana when you teased me."

John chuckled. "You always were a little tattle tale."

Rachel pouted adorably. "Na uh, I was only being a good girl."

John cocked an eyebrow at her that caused the girl to fidget. "Really? I remember a certain three year old was constantly in trouble." He quipped.

Rachel rolled her eyes playfully. "You sound like mommy. She said that I can't help but get myself in trouble."

John and Liz laughed, but they didn't have a hard time believing it was true. "Can we come in?" Rachel nodded her head. "Where's your mother?" Liz asked her granddaughter. She was having a hard time controlling the urge to pull Rachel into her arms. She was her youngest grandchild and reminded her so much of Shelby.

Rachel's eyes moved to the upstairs. "She's sleeping. She needs it."

"Have you eaten?" Liz was positive the girl hadn't since she was still in pajamas with bed head.

Rachel shook her head. "Mommy said I'm not allowed in the kitchen by myself."

"Good," Elizabeth said. "What do you want for breakfast?"

She shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

"How about French toast?"

Rachel nodded eagerly. She could get used to this whole grandparent thing if this was how it was going to be. Elizabeth decided to leave her daughter asleep so that she could continue to monopolize her granddaughter. "So do you go to school, Little One?" John asked her as they sat at the table.

"I'm in fifth grade at Lima Elementary. I used to go there before when I lived here a few years ago before moving to New York with Leroy. Hiram stayed here." There was a touch of bitterness in Rachel's tone, but her grandparents decided to ignore it.

"Do you like elementary school?"

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "School is okay. But I preferred working onstage. Leroy let me do that when we lived in New York. I was privately tutored so I could devote the rest of my time to the show, acting class, vocal and dance lessons."

Liz raised her eyebrows at this. What the hell had those men done to her granddaughter? They all knew Rachel had enjoyed performing as a child, but that didn't mean it had to be her whole life. "Did you have any friends in New York?"

Rachel looked down at her lap. "No, the alternate Cosette and I didn't really get along. I don't even want to talk about the girls who played Eponine. I have friends here though."

"Why don't you tell us about your friends kiddo?" John was fascinated by the girl. She was still the same little girl, only she could communicate much more effectively now.

"Uh well there's Quinn Fabray. She's my bestest friend. We have a secret handshake we made up in pre-k. She's a little older than me, but that never seemed to bother her. She likes to cheer and do gymnastics." John and Liz shared a look at the mention of Fabray. They were both thinking the same thing. "After her, there's Santana and Kurt. Santana is Hispanic, and she's always talking about beating up people who pick on me like Melanie Fields." She scowled at the name, which both grandparents noticed. "Kurt is like me. He loves Broadway, and it is his dream to one day be on the stage."

Liz continued to make the batter for the French toast as Rachel regaled them with everything going on in her life. "I guess if I had to pick a favorite subject it would be math. There's always a correct answer, and a way to get to that answer. I'm pretty great at it. Science is okay too. English is boring. I like to read though." John smiled at her. She was talkative, and her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"What's your favorite book to read squirt?"

Rachel crinkled her nose. "I like the House on Mango Street. There's also this book called Each Little Bird that sings. It is a bit sad, but I love it."

"What's your favorite activity to do outside of performing that is?" He added as she had opened her mouth to speak.

She quickly closed it as she thought. "I guess I love walking in the park or going to the zoo. I love swinging too."

"Why don't you go wake your mother kiddo?" Rachel grinned at her grandfather.

"That is a great idea Poppy. She loves my wake up calls."

Liz groaned as John snickered maniacally. He had heard about the infamous wake up calls the girl had started giving her mother since she could talk. She rushed out of the kitchen before her grandmother could grab her. Liz took the dishtowel and smacked her husband with it. "If Shelby kills you, I won't be sad."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you." He smiled affectionately at his wife. Liz rolled her eyes fondly.

In the time Rachel had ran up the stairs, she had thought of a good song to wake her mother up with. "I'm walking on sunshine, whoa, I'm walking on sunshine whoa, and it feels great." She sang it loudly because her mother could often tune her out.

Shelby groaned as she covered her head with the pillow. This was not how she pictured her morning going in the slightest. She wished her child knew how to sleep. "I know you are awake mommy. We have guests so get out of bed." Rachel left the bedroom, allowing Shelby to relax. Her eyes popped open as she registered her daughter's words. _Who the hell did she let into the house?_ She was going to have to talk to Rachel about opening the door without her mother.

Shelby walked into the kitchen to find her parents and daughter gathered around the table, chatting and eating. She shook her head. Her mother's head snapped up and she gave her daughter a piercing stare. "Shelby Elizabeth Corcoran, how could you forget to call me when you found out that our little Rachel was back?"

Shelby pursed her lips. She was almost a hundred percent sure that her mother meant that as rhetorical. "I'm sorry. We've had a lot going on. Rachel only just came home from the hospital two days ago. We are still trying to adjust to the new situation. We had to go shopping for clothes and other things yesterday."

Liz's face softened. "It's okay dear. I'm proud of you."

Shelby stared at her confusedly. "You never gave up for her to return. Now look at her happy and healthy, and gushing about how awesome her mom is."

"Nana," Rachel groaned, blushing slightly. She didn't want her mom to know she was talking about her.

"Hush up you and eat your breakfast." Rachel did as she was told, and Shelby was surprised. Rachel usually put up more of a fight. "You eat too Shelby Elizabeth."

Rachel smirked at her mother from across the table. Her own mother ordered her around, and she was a grown-up. Rachel froze when she realized that meant her mother would probably be doing the same thing to her.

Shelby had to smile at her daughter as it clicked in her brain. _That's right baby girl, you will be listening to Mama for a longtime. _"When did you guys arrive?"

"About an hour ago, Rachel answered the door. I made breakfast, while she talked about herself. I didn't realize that Quinn Fabray was one of your students."

Shelby couched loudly as her food travelled down the wrong pipe. Rachel got up to help her mother. She handed her the glass of juice, and watched in her worry as her mother controlled her coughing. "It's okay baby, I'm okay. My food went down the wrong pipe."

Rachel was skeptical, but took her mother's word at face value. "Yes mom, I teach Quinn."

Elizabeth hummed. "I see. Does Judy know you're her teacher?" Rachel stared curiously at her mother.

"You know Ms. Judy mommy?"

Shelby swore under her breath, which didn't go unheard by her mom. She smiled innocently at her, and Elizabeth shook her head. "Can we talk about this later?" She begged since her child was in the room. She looked over at Rachel to indicate that she didn't want the girl to hear.

"Yes, we can talk after breakfast."

Rachel wasn't appeased in the slightest. "Mommy, how do you know Ms. Judy? I know Quinn never gets in trouble at school."

Shelby wished she didn't have such a curious child. "Rach, Judy and I are old friends from before you were born. I was younger than you when I first met her."

Rachel tilted her head. "You used to be young?"

John snorted into his coffee, while Liz coughed to hide her laugh. Shelby bit her tongue to keep the sarcastic comment at bay. "Yes I used to be a kid too. I'll show you pictures." She glared at her parents who could barely control their laughter. "Real mature," she muttered.

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><p><strong>AN- The song is Baby Mine. The grandparents have been introduced. Things are going to develop slowly on the Fabray front. There's a story there. It's not any kind of Shelby/Judy pairing. Leave a review to let me know what you think.**


	5. Trouble and Fears

**A/N- I decided to post this one early. The whole Lucas thing won't be revealed for a few chapters yet. You will meet Judy soon outside of her being Quinn's mom. This chapter is a little rough as Rachel is trying to adjust to life with her mom. Melanie Fields also makes a return. This isn't edited so any mistakes made are mine. I also don't own Glee sadly.**

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><p>Rachel was angry with Shelby because the woman kept prolonging her going to school. She thought she was in perfect health. It was Sunday night, and her mother said she would consider allowing her to go back to school the next day, but she told the girl not to cross any fingers.<p>

Rachel grumbled and stomped up the stairs. "Rachel, do not stomp your little feet one more time." Rachel glared murderously at Shelby, and continued to stomp up the stairs.

Shelby didn't understand what the girl's problem was. Most kids loved when they didn't have to attend school, but Rachel had spent the last week whining about not going. She was sure that Rachel wouldn't have any problems catching up.

"You are being unfair." Shelby quickly walked up the stairs and grabbed her arm to drag her into her room.

"Get ready for bed. Since you want to act like this after repeated warnings all night about your attitude, I'm sending you to bed early. You will also be grounded for the rest of the week."

Rachel gaped at her. "You can't do that." If she had thought about it, it was probably not smart to get her mother angry.

"I think you are forgetting who is the mother here. Rachel, you are nine years old, and I am significantly older. It is my job to take care of you, and that includes punishing you when you are out of line."

Rachel wisely kept her mouth shut this time. She got ready for bed like her mother asked. She stared at her mother as she climbed into bed. Shelby knew what she was asking, but wanted Rachel to voice it.

Rachel sighed when she realized her mother wasn't budging. "Mommy can you please come tuck me in?" Shelby smiled and did as her daughter asked. She kissed her head and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry about how I was acting."

"I know. I wish you wouldn't get so upset with mommy when I try to do what is best for you. I didn't say you couldn't go to school tomorrow."

Rachel nodded. "I hope I can. I'm going crazy from being locked inside all the time. I wish the people with cameras would go somewhere else. I don't think we are that interesting." Shelby chuckled.

"Neither do I, my dear." She kissed her one more time before turning the light out and leaving. "I love you Rach."

"Love you Mama." The girl mumbled sleepily. Shelby smiled at the sight of her baby girl. She left the door open because she wanted Rachel to know she could come to her if she ever needed comforting.

Shelby made the decision to let Rachel go to school the next day. She didn't want her to be cooped up anymore, and Shelby had to go back to work anyways. At least, she could check on Rachel while she was at work. She called it an early night for herself as well as she was exhausted. Entertaining a nine year old was ten times harder than entertaining a three old had ever been.

She wasn't sure where her daughter got all her energy. She was glad that Rachel would be able to use a lot of it at school. When morning came, Shelby wasn't all that surprised to find Rachel snuggled up with her. The girl normally spent the first part of the night in her bed before switching to her mother's after she had a nightmare. She loved being close to her.

"Rach, baby we've got to ready for school."

Rachel mumbled something unintelligible. "Come on you were yelling at me last night about not letting you go to school."

Rachel opened one eye to stare at her mother. "You're really letting me go to school today?"

Shelby nodded excitedly. "Yes you are going to school and I am going to work." Rachel squealed loudly before crawling across the bed and pealing out of the room. Her mother barely had time to blink before her daughter was gone.

Rachel quickly got ready for school. She loved her mom, but she was suffocating her. She hovered constantly, and it was more than irritating. At school, she wouldn't see her mom until music class, which was enough time away from her.

Rachel ate a bowl of cereal, while her mom nursed a cup of coffee. They had to leave a little earlier than Rachel was accustomed to because they had about a half an hour drive. Rachel bounced in anticipation in the car, nearly driving her mother nuts. Shelby was glad when she saw the school because she needed Rachel to dispense some of her excess energy.

"Okay mommy has to fill out some paperwork in the office. Stuff like changing your name and making sure I'm the one listed as your guardian. I want you to go wait in my classroom. I'll be there in a bit." Rachel nodded, happy to be away from her mom.

Shelby entered the office and felt her face heating up at all the stares she was receiving. She tried to ignore as best she could, and walked up to the front desk.

She smiled politely at Molly. "Hi Molly, um wow this more difficult to explain than I thought it would be."

"Don't worry Shelby, we all saw the news. I grabbed the paperwork for you. All you have to do is fill it out, and you will be good to go." Shelby smiled kindly at the other woman as she began to diligently fill out the paperwork that would make Rachel Corcoran her daughter in the eyes of the school.

Fifteen minutes later she was walking in her classroom. Rachel was looking over all her completed homework to double check that nothing was left blank. She looked up when her mother entered and gave her a smile. "Well you my dear are now officially Rachel Corcoran."

Rachel giggled. "I thought I was always Rachel Barbra Corcoran."

"Okay smarty-pants, go to class." She gave her a soft pat on the butt. Rachel didn't need to be told twice that she was free.

"See you at lunch mama, bye." Shelby was left shaking her head at the girl.

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><p>Rachel walked into her classroom to find that only a few people were there. She wasn't used to being one of the first people there. That rarely ever happened. Mrs. Anderson smiled kindly at her as she gestured for her to come to her desk.<p>

Rachel hung her backpack on her chair before walking over to her teacher. "I'm glad you're back at school Rachel."

"Me too, it was a long week. I have all of my missing assignments."

"Okay just don't forget to give them to me. Also if at any point today you need to see your mom for whatever reason, you can come talk to me."

Rachel nodded. "Thank you." At that moment Quinn walked in and squealed at the sight of her best friend.

"Rachel," she ran over the girl and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. Rachel was happy to see her friend again. Quinn dragged her over to her desk. "Where have you been? There were a lot of rumors about why you missed a whole week of school. Some of them were centered around Ms. Corcoran because she wasn't here either."

Rachel bit her lip. She didn't want to lie to her friend, but she could see her classmates leaning forward in anticipation to hear the whole story.

Rachel shook her head as if to say "not here". Quinn got the message and nodded her head. "Well, I am really glad you're back though."

"Thanks and so am I. I was going crazy at home."

Quinn tilted her head as she realized there was something different about her friend. "You look happy."

Rachel giggled. "I am happy Quinn. I'm the happiest I've been in a longtime."

"Well I hope you stay that happy after Santana gets through with you." Quinn stage whispered for the benefit of Santana who had just walked into the classroom.

Rachel whirled around to see the young Latina briskly walking across the classroom. "Look here munchkin, you can't keep doing this disappearing act you've got going. We were scared that something might've happened to you. All these crazy rumors swirling about, and you don't know what to believe. I'm going to give you my phone number so that next time you don't show up at school you can call and explain to me why it isn't you aren't here."

"Yes Santana," Rachel agreed, rolling her eyes. "In my defense though, I had no idea I would miss as much school as I did."

"Yeah well you won't miss anymore school if you know what is good for you." Rachel hugged Santana knowing that was going to be the only thing to shut her friend up. Santana would rant for days if you let her.

"Okay class settle down in your seats so class can begin." Everyone dutifully complied with Mrs. Anderson's orders. None of them particularly wanted to part with their friends, but the sooner they got through math, the sooner they could go to recess and continue socializing.

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><p>By the time recess started, everyone's brains were ready to explode from the math overload. Even Rachel's own head was about to bust open with so much math running through it. It was her favorite subject, but she was allowed to have her days like anyone else.<p>

Her, Quinn, Santana, and Kurt all found a spot on the field so Rachel could tell them about what was going on. "So two Saturdays ago, I was beyond confused because I had this dream about my mom. I had thought I didn't know her. Yet there she was in my dreams, but she wasn't faceless like she always was. I could hear her voice, smell her perfume, and could feel the imprint of her hand on my butt." Quinn and Santana laughed at this. "Anyways it was after I had looked up Ms. Corcoran on the Internet. I was curious about her because I knew I had heard her last name before, but I didn't know where. I found all these articles about a missing little girl named Rachel Corcoran." Her friends quickly sobered as they realized where this was going. "At first I thought it could be a coincidence. People have the same name all the time, and Ms. Corcoran said she had a daughter my age. However, in my dreams that night there wasn't any denying that she was my mom. I remembered what she had looked like six years ago. She was a lot younger."

She took a breath before continuing. "As I was saying, I decided to prove to myself that it wasn't true. I went through family photo albums, only to discover that there weren't any pictures of me before age three. My hair was also really light. I was a blonde." She wrinkled her nose and smirked at Quinn's reaction. "In my dream though I had the hair color I have now. I questioned Hiram the next day and he got angry with me. Some other stuff happened and the police found me on Monday morning locked in my closet. I was taken to the hospital, and they compared my fingerprints against the ones they took from the room six years ago. There was a match. I got my mom. Ms. Corcoran is my mom, and my name is really Rachel Barbra Corcoran. I keep getting little flashbacks. One happened after I got a whiff of my mom's perfume. It reminded me of this time I spilled an entire bottle. I lied and told her it was an accident at the time."

All of her friends were gob smacked. They hadn't exactly believed any of the stories floating around the elementary school. The fifth graders, especially Melanie Fields, were telling some ridiculous stories. "I don't know what to say." Kurt finally said after a few minutes of silence. "I noticed you guys looked alike. I never would have thought something like this though."

Rachel picked at the grass. "Me neither, but I'm glad I've got my mom back. It's still a little weird, but we are working on it. She wants me to go see a therapist."

Santana made a face. "Like a crazy people doctor?"

Rachel shook her head. "No it's a person you can talk to about your problems. They help you find ways to deal with stuff in your life."

"Maybe it will be good for you since it isn't someone who was involved. They will have an open mind about it."

The thought had never crossed Rachel's mind when her mother suggested it. She didn't feel like she could talk to her mom because she would always get this sad look on her face. It wasn't fair that her mom had to suffer.

"Thanks Quinn, I think that actually helped." She said in a surprised tone.

Quinn mock glared at her, while Kurt and Santana tried to muffle their snickers. "Did you know our moms know each other?"

"How? I don't think I've ever heard my mom mention yours."

Rachel frowned. "My mom said they knew each other when they were kids. I listened in a little bit when she was talking to my grandparents because they wouldn't say anything while I was in the room. There was some mention of someone named Lucas."

Quinn stared at her friend in shock. "Lucas like my Uncle Lucas?" Rachel shrugged. "Well that's the only Lucas I know. That's weird. How does your mom know my mom and uncle?"

"I don't know. I think they used to date or something. At least that's what it sounded like to me."

"Wow that is crazy. I wish they would have gotten married then we could be cousins."

"My mommy doesn't need to be married. I don't need a dad."

"My Uncle Lucas is awesome, thank you very much." Rachel scoffed.

"If he was so awesome, he wouldn't have left my mama."

"Obviously your mom wasn't good enough for him."

Rachel suddenly angry stood up and stormed off. She didn't appreciate anyone talking about her mother like that. She wasn't sure where she was going until she was in front of her mother's classroom.

Shelby was cleaning up from her last class when Rachel angrily stormed in. She sighed because Rachel was a dramatic child. "Is something wrong sweetie?"

"Yeah stupid Quinn." Shelby frowned because she was under the impression that they were best friends.

"What happened with Quinn?"

"She said that her Uncle Lucas must have had a good reason to leave you." Shelby froze at the mention of Lucas.

"I beg your pardon." She placed her hands on her hips. "How do you know that name?"

Rachel's eyes widened as she realized what she let slip. "Oh you know… I was um listening at the stairs when you talked with Nana and Poppy."

Shelby pinched the bridge of her nose. "I thought I had told you to go take a shower."

"Well mother, I wanted to hear what was being said."

"You are a child. You do not need to know what is going on all the time."

"But mommy," the girl whined. "It's not fair that I'm a kid."

"Rach, one day you will be a grown up like mommy. For now, I want you to stay a child. Lucas is none of your concern. I hope you do not make a habit of listening in on private conversations."

"Yes mommy." She crossed her fingers behind her back where her mother couldn't see. "I have to go to class now. I'll see you later." She walked straight past Quinn's desk without once looking at the blonde. That was just fine with Quinn.

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><p>At lunch Kurt sat with Rachel, while Santana sat with Quinn at a different table. "Come on Diva, she's your best friend." Much like she had at recess, she scoffed. "Don't be like that. You're both being stupid and pig headed."<p>

Rachel glared angrily at him. "I am not pig headed."

Kurt stared disbelieving at her. Was that seriously all she had gotten out of that? "Rachel you are perhaps the most stubborn person I know."

She folded her arms and refused to look at her friend. "See," he waved his hand as if to prove his point. "That is stubborn. You don't like how the conversation is going so you are refusing to listen."

Rachel pushed back her chair and grabbed her tray before storming off. Kurt shook his head. Stubborn.

She threw her tray away; she wasn't that hungry anyways. Her mom was always trying to make her eat, but after everything that happened she wanted some control. She glanced over her shoulder to see Quinn glaring at her. She swallowed and turned her head around as she headed to the playground. It hurt that her friend had said that about her mother. She didn't even know her outside of being their music teacher. It was clearly Quinn's uncle that had the problem. Her mommy was the best person she knew. After that it was Ms. Judy and Ms. Maribel.

She stopped when she noticed that someone had stepped into her line of sight. She looked up into the face of her mortal enemy. She groaned because she knew she was about to get into trouble.

"I heard that you got kidnapped. It must have been a relief for your mother not to have you anymore."

Rachel balled her hands into fists. "Just shut up Melanie, I don't need your crap."

"Oh is the little baby upset? You know I'm right. You are unwanted. Your mom is probably upset because she has you back again. It's not like she can get rid of you now."

"Stop it," Rachel cried.

"No one would want an unlovable girl with man hands and a big nose."

"I said stop it. It's not true."

"It is. Your mom probably wishes you were dead instead of living with her. That way she wouldn't have to see your ugly face every day." Before she could say anything more, Rachel punched her in the face. Melanie fell to the ground and Rachel got on top of her and punched and slapped.

Melanie kicked her knee up to stop Rachel. She then rolled them over so she was on top and started pummeling the girl. Rachel however wasn't backing down. She grabbed Melanie's hair and started pulling with all her might.

Quinn, Santana, and Kurt were just arriving on the playground when they heard news of a fight. "You guys there's a fight. Some girl punched Melanie Fields."

The three friends shared a look before rushing to the scene where they were greeted with the sight of Rachel kicking Melanie. Melanie got up, a little unsteady on her feet before she tried to ram herself into Rachel. "Come on you little creature, are you scared?"

"As if, I could take you." She was baiting her. Melanie ran at her again and this time hit her target. Rachel fell back to the ground, but kicked her leg out causing Melanie to face plant. Before anymore fighting could take place, teachers had arrived to see what was going on. Everyone quickly scrambled not wanting to get in trouble for just being there.

The only two people left were the ones fighting. Both looked horrible and tired, yet they both still had a lot of fight left in them. However, the two girls barely noticed the teachers as they got up to go another round.

Rachel had never been so angry in her entire life. Melanie's words had stuck a chord, and she had tapped into some of her insecurities. It was hard not to believe it when someone else voiced it. Maybe Melanie was right and she was unlovable and unwanted. It only sparked her fury even more that someone could love someone as evil and nasty as Melanie. Before the girl could make another move, arms wrapped around her waist and attempted to carry the screaming and kicking girl away.

"Rachel baby, I need you to calm down." Her mother's voice commanded. Rachel deflated in her arms and immediately began to cry. This was all too much for her. She had fought with her best friend, and then started a fight with her enemy.

"Let me go," she demanded. "Melanie was right. You don't love or want me. You're doing this because it would look bad if you didn't. You were perfectly happy when I was gone." The girl screamed at her mother.

Shelby was taken aback. She now knew what the fight had been about. "Hey look at me," she told the girl. Rachel shook her head and focused on anything but her mother. Shelby gently took ahold of her face to force her to look at her. "I don't care what Melanie or anyone says, you are my baby. I've wanted you ever since I knew you existed. I love having you around even when you're being a pain or yelling at me." She gave the girl a look that said 'we will discuss that later'. "I hated my life when you weren't there. You make everyday better by just being there. I can't go back to that ever."

Rachel sniffled as she listened to her mom. "You promise?" Shelby stared into her daughter's hazel eyes, and didn't like the uncertainty, fear, and anger she saw. Her daughter was nine, and had already gone through more than most adults.

"Yes, I promise. Now we have to go the principal's office because you're still in trouble." Rachel's shoulders slumped as the consequences of her actions hit her. She was going to be suspended at the very least. Technically she did start the fight, but if it hadn't been for Melanie verbally assaulting her, there wouldn't have been a fight.

"How much trouble do you think I am in?"

Shelby fixed her a look. "Well Rach, the principal might be a little lenient, but you will probably be suspended for a day or two."

"I shouldn't have hit her." She admitted.

"You hit her first?" Shelby was surprised given that Rachel was the one usually being hit.

"She said a lot of mean stuff. She said that you probably wished I was dead instead. I couldn't take it anymore and punched her in the face to make her shut up. I know I shouldn't have let my anger get in the way, but after dealing with Melanie for so long I needed to do this. I needed to fight back for once. I'm not a weakling, and she has said horrible stuff to me for too long."

"That still doesn't excuse what you did. However, I might go lighter on your punishment since you're being honest."

"Grounded, huh?"

"What do you think?"

"I deserve it. I was already in a bad mood and she made it worse."

The two entered the office where Melanie was already sitting with an ice pack on her nose. Rachel tried to hide her smirk but failed. Shelby glared at her daughter who was all too proud of her work. Rachel tried to rearrange her features, but she couldn't. Melanie deserved in her opinion what she had given her. She needed a taste of her own medicine.

"Sit," her mother ordered. Rachel sat two chairs down from Melanie. She could feel the bruising on her face and ribs. Melanie had gotten a good kick in after she had pushed Rachel down. Her back was aching slightly from where Melanie kneed it.

Melanie didn't look that great either. She had a black eye, busted lip, and her nose looked like it might be broken. Her hand was also swollen from the first time she had punched Rachel.

Rachel sat there and watched as Mrs. Fields entered with an angry expression. She glared at her daughter. "We will speak about this at home." Melanie sunk down in her chair under her mother's gaze.

Mrs. Fields entered the office, and her and Shelby didn't come out until twenty minutes later. Shelby held her hand out for Rachel who gladly took it. She wanted to get out of here, even if it meant facing punishment by her mother.

"Let's go get your stuff from your class."

"What did Principal Peters say?" She was curious to know how much trouble she was in. She didn't want to be suspended for too long as she had only just gotten back.

"You are suspended for the rest of today and tomorrow. You can come back Wednesday."

Rachel nodded her head. That wasn't too bad. It could have gone much worse. She supposed it had something to do with her clean record and everything else going on in her life. Her mother knocked on the door, and Mrs. Anderson opened it. All of her classmates sat up in attention when Rachel entered to collect her belongings. They couldn't believe it was true when they heard that Rachel had gotten into a fight with the scariest person in fifth grade.

Some of her classmates even clapped as she walked past. Rachel grinned at them. She felt proud of herself. She grabbed her backpack and dropped off her complete assignments on her teacher's desk.

"You see Quinn," Santana whispered. "That is how you go all Lima Heights Adjacent on someone. We all saw Melanie's face. The girl was a mess. Did you see the clumps of her hair on the ground? Rachel was like an animal."

Quinn had to admit she was kind of proud of her friend for finally sticking up for herself against Melanie. She had wanted to step in to protect the girl, but Rachel for once in her life didn't need help. She was handling it all on her own. She kept getting up and going right back at Melanie, giving the girl everything she had.

She noticed Ms. Corcoran was waiting patiently for her daughter in the doorway, while conversing with Ms. Anderson. She watched with rapt attention as Rachel took her hand when they left. Rachel leaned a little into her mother as well. She had never seen her friend get that close with most people, especially when she didn't know them that well.

"Did you see that?" She asked Santana.

"Rachel was holding her mom's hand. It's kind of weird seeing Ms. Corcoran being a mom. You know she was just our teacher before, but now she's our best friend's mother."

"It is so strange. Rachel looked so at ease with her. Although her mom did look a little angry especially when the boys started clapping."

"Quinn, Santana do you have something you want to share with the class?" Both girls shook their head immediately. "Good now we can get back to our upcoming social studies project. You guys will be divided into groups."

Quinn tuned her out as she thought about her friend. It was rude of her to say that about her mom. Rachel had only gotten her back the week before, and there Quinn was saying stuff about her. She knew Rachel didn't mean any harm when she said that about her uncle. Quinn secretly agreed that her uncle was kind of dumb if he let such a pretty and nice woman like Ms. Corcoran get away. He obviously had poor judgment. She wished she had never had the stupid fight with Rachel because now she couldn't even call her. She didn't have her new phone number, and the girl only had Santana's. She sighed as she began paying attention to Mrs. Anderson again.

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><p>Rachel for her part tried to look contrite as her mother lectured her about why it was wrong to get into fights. "I think we talked about how you weren't supposed to have anything to do with her last week when you were in the hospital."<p>

"Did we?" She asked innocently. She knew perfectly well her mother had told her not to try to get revenge on Melanie. It would only add fuel to the fire.

Shelby cocked a brow at her daughter. Rachel squirmed a little under her mom's gaze. "I'm not sorry." She finally said. "It's hard to have fears, and then have someone else say them out making you think they could possibly be true."

Shelby's face softened. "Honey, nothing that Melanie Fields said has the slightest bit of truth. I don't know how I can convince you how much I love and want you. I would rather you be alive and healthy than dead somewhere. Do you know how lucky we were that you aren't dead? A lot of parents of kidnapped children will never see their kids again because most likely they are dead. I had to live with that thought for six years."

Rachel looked away from her mother as she felt moisture on her face. She didn't want her mother to know about what she felt and thought. "In my nightmares, you always leave. You don't look back. Sometimes I'm trying to run to you, but you get further away from me as Leroy and Hiram drag me. I scream for you. You can't hear me though."

"Baby you have to tell me these things so I can help you. I don't want you to bottle up your feelings. I know you're scared. This whole thing is scary and we are both still processing. Neither of us knows how to live with the other anymore. You were a toddler at the time. I know you remember some things, but back then things were different. You had never spent more than a few hours away from me. It's been years since we've seen each other, and we have to get used to one another."

"I want to be with you though. You comfort me like no one else can. I always feel safe in your arms. I can't explain it. That is when I know you love me though."

"If me telling you I love you everyday will help, I will. I want you to know that I am here for you. No one is ever going to take you away from me again. I'm not leaving you babysitters anymore."

"Oh good, I would've thrown the biggest tantrum ever. I don't want another babysitter ever again." She shivered at the thought. "I only need you. If you can't watch me, I've got friends."

"Now we are going to discuss your punishment. While I am proud that you stuck up for yourself, I can't condone you fighting with someone. I get that she had picked on you, but instead of telling an adult you hit her. Rach, there are much better ways to fix a problem than with your fists. I never imagined I would be having this conversation with you. Well actually there was one time when you got into a fight at the park with little Tony Daniels."

Rachel wanted to know about this. "Tell me about it Mama."

Shelby sighed, but decided to tell it. "Tony and you were in the same play group. We usually met up once or twice a week where you guys all played. Tony had been picking on you that day. He stole your cookie. He spilled your milk on purpose. Then he wouldn't let you go down the slide because you were a girl. You being you decided that he needed a push. So you pushed him into the mud. In your limited toddler vocabulary, you basically told him that it better not happen again."

Rachel was surprised at how cool she was. She couldn't believe she was that intimidating at three. "Did he leave me alone after that?"

"Tony's mother put him in another playgroup. Does that answer your question?" Rachel nodded. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it is time to discuss your grounding." Rachel groaned and Shelby shushed her. "I have to sweetheart. You are already grounded for the rest of the week, and I am now adding another week to your punishment. There will be no television or any other electronics. You will not be allowed to use the phone or go anywhere unless it's with me. Your homework will be completed here at the table, and I will watch as you do it. Your bedtime is also now eight thirty."

Rachel stood up quickly, knocking her chair over. "That isn't fair. You can't do this."

"Rachel, I think I am being more than fair. How do you think it feels when your daughter is fighting at your workplace? It is embarrassing that so many of my colleagues saw you fighting. They are going to judge me and think I can't control my own child. I let you go back to school today and on your first day back you get into a fight. I don't know how you could possibly think that it is okay. I also do not appreciate you telling me what I can't do either. I'm the mom, not you."

"Whatever," she muttered.

"Go to your room." She ordered her.

"Fine." She said before stomping up the stairs. So this is when that whole refusing to respect authority started. Rachel wasn't ten, and she was already driving her crazy.

She knew she would be dying her hair in a few years to cover up all the grey Rachel was sure to give her.

She went to check on her and frowned when she saw the door was closed. Rachel had never closed her door before. She knocked before entering and found Rachel lying on her side. She didn't look up when Shelby entered. She pretended to be sleep because she was angry.

The mother took a deep breath. "If you were awake I would tell you that I love you bunches. While I don't appreciate your behavior today, I'm proud of you. I know things are hard right now, but we can get through this. I wish you would talk to me. I can't help if I don't know what's wrong. I get you're scared and so am I." She whispered. "Rachel, my first thought when I saw you was that this is my baby. I had never been happier to see someone in my entire life." She wiped a stray tear from her face. "When the doctor had placed you in my arms, I made you a promise. It was you and me against the world. I promised you that I would take care of you forever. You are my first priority. I get the day didn't go how you wanted it to, but that is life sweetheart. Things aren't always fair, nor are they black and white. You're too young to see the shades of grey."

Rachel didn't move, but squeezed her eyes tightly. "Well goodnight and I love you." She kissed her forehead and fixed her blanket before leaving.

"Don't close the door," Rachel said softly. Shelby smiled, but did as she was asked. Rachel didn't like the dark. Rachel had nothing else to say to her mom. Shelby left the girl to her thoughts before retiring to bed.

"_Please," she screamed. "I just want my mom."_

"_You don't have a mom." Hiram said menacingly. "Nobody wants you. How could someone love anything as pathetic as you?"_

"_You're lying."_

"_No I'm not. We both know it." _

"_Stop saying that. Let me go. I have to get to her. I need her."_

"_What you need is discipline. Let's go." He grabbed her arm and threw into the closet. "Only bad girls get the closet."_

_He closed the door and she heard the click on the other side. "Please," she banged on the door. "I don't like the dark."_

"_Then you should have left well enough alone. Your mother doesn't want you. No one will ever love you. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you will be freed."_

_Rachel pleaded with him to let her out. It was dark. She had never liked the dark. She could hear the voices telling her how no one wanted her. "Man hands no one will love you."_

"_You were never talented enough to be Cosette. We didn't want you."_

"_Loser, loser Rachel is a loser."_

_She cried as she curled into a ball. "No one wants you Rachel. No one will love you." She muttered over and over. "You have to accept that it is your fault. You're the problem."_

Shelby opened her eyes and for a second wondered why she was awake when she heard the crying. She threw back the covers and rushed out of her room into her daughter's. Rachel was curled up into a ball and crying in her sleep.

"Baby, wake up," she gently shook her.

"Not wanted. No one loves you." The girl said.

"Wake up for me sweetheart. Mommy needs you to wake up." Shelby rocked Rachel in her arms to soothe the girl as she softly began humming to her.

Rachel opened her eyes and felt her mother holding her close. "Mama?" She asked in a small voice.

Shelby pulled back to look at her daughter. "Oh baby, I've got you." Rachel cried into her mom's chest as the woman continued to rock her. She needed the comfort only her mother could provide. "Please no more crying sweetheart."

Rachel cried for another twenty minutes before she was reduced to hiccups and sniffles. "We need to get you changed. You peed in your bed." Rachel was too tired and upset to be embarrassed about peeing the bed.

Shelby helped Rachel into new under and pajamas and stripped the girl's bed. She dropped everything into a pile in the hallway for her to wash later. "You're going to sleep with mommy tonight."

Rachel nodded. "Okay." She needed her mom, and although she was still mad at her, she wouldn't give up sleeping her mom's arms for anything. There something about it that made her feel safe.

Shelby stared down at her daughter from where she slept in her arms. "I love you more than you know Rachel." She would do anything to help her daughter.

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><p><strong>AN- More of Rachel's fears will be mentioned as the story progresses, and they won't fully go away for a longtime yet. At least Rachel has finally stood up for herself. That Melanie is a real piece of work.**


	6. AN

**A/N- Hey guys this isn't an update. I'm not sure when the next one is. I won't be posting for a while as there has been a sudden death in my family. I need to deal with that before I even consider writing. I hope you all understand.**


	7. Therapy

**A/N- I know it's been a while, but the last few months have been really hard for my family. Unfortunately writing had to be put on the back burner. Now that I've finished the semester, I have a bit more free time. I've already got a few chapters written, so hopefully that will help me some. There is a little bit of a time gap in this chapter. Not everything is sunshine and roses.**

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><p>Rachel fiddled with a loose thread on her dress as she stared at her therapist. This was their third session, and she was still nervous. Her mommy was in the lobby, and she was trying to reassure herself that she was there, but she couldn't help but doubt her mom's words.<p>

After she got caught glancing at the door again, her therapist smiled amusedly. "Rachel, I promise your mother is right outside that door. She's not going to leave you."

The girl's eyes darted between her therapist and the door before settling on the doctor. She bit her lip in thought before speaking. "I'm scared. The last time I was away from her I didn't see her for a longtime." Her vulnerability was showing, but she didn't care in the slightest. She didn't want to burden her mom with her fears when she was already causing so much trouble for the woman.

"Do you think that she is going to let you get away again?"

Her eyes shifted downward. "Not on purpose, but stuff happens." She shrugged noncommittally.

Dr. Brown observed the girl's body language. "Have you told your mom about this?"

The little brunette's eyes widened dramatically. "No, I don't want her to know. She's already hurting because of me. She doesn't need anything else to worry about."

"Rachel, I know that you are scared right now, but I think your mom wants to know this. She is desperate to help you. But she can't do that if she doesn't know what's wrong. Keeping your emotions bottled up is only going to hurt you more."

"How can it hurt more than it already does? I'm scared all the time. I'm scared she's going to realize she was better of without me like my dad-Leroy and Hiram said. They would lock me in the closet, and tell me to repeat what they said until I sounded like I meant it. I had to say that I didn't have a mom that I made her up. My name has always been Rachel Barbra Berry. The last name Corcoran was probably because of something I heard on television. I believed them after weeks of darkness."

Dr. Brown set aside her notebook. "It's called disassociation. What those men did was lock you in the dark where you were scared. In the dark, you didn't have any food or water. You were probably cold. You had no idea what was happening because you were three years old. You were still a baby. They separated you from everything you knew, and at one point you were ready to forget everything you knew because you craved the outside. You wanted to leave that room."

"I forgot everything on purpose." She was confused.

"Rachel, you were being abused by these men. You blocked out happy moments with your mother because that's what they wanted you to do. You had to get yourself out of the situation. You protected yourself from being hurt more than you already were. Besides, like you've said yourself in previous sessions, you never really let yourself forget about her. You placed her in the back of your mind where she could never be forgotten."

Tears were in the girl's eyes. "I-I still wonder about why it was me. There were other kids at the park that day, but they chose me. In court, the lawyer lady said that they had picked me out of everyone else."

The older woman sighed. She hated cases like this. The children usually placed the blame upon themselves for the abuse they suffered. "In my personal opinion, it was probably because you shared a resemblance to one of them. If they had truly wanted to raise a child and claim he or she came from a surrogate, well they would need the child to look like one of them. Ethnically speaking, both you and Hiram are both Jewish."

"So my nose is what you are saying."

Rachel simplified it in her own terms. "Well yes, you both share similar noses. Other than that though, you look too much like your mother. They could blame the rest of your looks on the surrogate they used."

The petite girl frowned at this. "I don't understand why they couldn't have their own kid. Why take someone else's?" Rachel had been dying to know the answer to this for a while, but had recently come to terms with the fact that might never know.

"I don't know."

"I wish they had taken some other kid. I know that's an awful thing to say, but my whole family hurt because of what they did. I feel guilty like it was my fault."

"It wasn't your fault. I want you to say that to yourself once a day especially when you feel particularly guilty. I want you to keep saying it until you believe it. Trust me, one day you will."

A small sigh escaped her. "I think my mom blames me."

"Can you tell me why?"

"Well back then I didn't really follow the rule not to talk to strangers. People at the park had said they had seen me talk to them. If I had never talked to them, they would never have had the chance to take me. I was supposed to stay on the jungle gym, but I walked away."

"You were three. I know that it is hard to see the differences in your thinking then and now, but at three children are still testing boundaries so to speak. At that age children make friends easier than they do at ten. Children don't quite understand the concept of why it isn't okay to talk to strangers."

"I guess I never thought about it in that way. I wish I could go back though and never talk to them. I want so badly to fix it all."

"As you get older, you come to realize that the past happened for a reason. You wouldn't be the person you are today without what happened to you back then. I know that sometimes it bothers you, the person you've become. But you've told me that you like things about your life."

"Things could have been different though." She protested. "I could have had my mom."

"Yes, but you might not have ever made the friends you have. The two of you could be living anywhere. Anything could have happened. At least, you have her back and you guys have years together."

Rachel wiped away a few stray tears. "I get it. It just doesn't seem fair."

"Why do you say that?" She had a fairly good idea what Rachel was going to say, but she needed the girl to express it.

Rachel sat there mulling over what she wanted to say. "Other kids get to have their parents with them. They don't get kidnapped. They don't know how it feels. They'll never know. My friends keep telling me that everything is okay, but they don't get it. They'll never know what I went through. They can't understand. And I can't tell my mom this because she'll start crying."

"Maybe your mom wants to know anyway." Rachel scoffed loudly at that. "Hear me out before you dismiss my suggestion. I know you don't like that she's hurting, but she needs to know. She more than likely doesn't want to ask you because she doesn't want to cause you pain."

Rachel's eyes drop as shame creeps on her. She was trying not to hurt her mom, but she was anyways. "She thinks I don't want to talk to her. The words are always there, but I can hear it when she stops herself. She's unsure around me."

"I know you're nine, but your mom has problems talking to like you have talking to her. You told me at the beginning of our session how excited you were when you woke up and she was there at the hospital, but from the little memories you do have, it's not as easy to talk to her. You don't want to disappoint her."

"I want her to like me. She says she loves me, but how can she? I'm broken on the inside."

"Talk to her because that's the only way you'll get answers. I don't have all of them. I'm giving you a journal. I want you to write down when you're scared or feeling unsure of yourself. We will talk about it at our next session." She handed the leather bound journal to the small girl.

Rachel reached out hesitantly to take it from her. She didn't want to seem to eager. "Thank you," she mumbled quietly.

"I'll see you Thursday Rachel."

"See you then Dr. Brown." Rachel glanced back at her therapist, and granted her a small smile before leaving the room. Shelby was exactly where Rachel had left her, and the girl let out a relieved sigh at the sight of her mother. Dr. Brown helped a bit with her reassurances, but Rachel needed visual proof.

Shelby glanced up as she heard the door close. She watched as her daughter walked closer to her, clutching something in her arms. "How did it go?" She smiled warmly.

The little brunette ducked her head embarrassed. _How could I think she would leave me? What's wrong with me? She's always smiling and being so nice, and I had to think those mean things about her. I can't understand how someone as kind as her would want someone as unlovable as me as their daughter._ "It went fine." She muttered in reply.

The mother didn't want to pry because it only made Rachel more abrasive and less responsive to reason. She had a tendency to blow up when she would attempt to get more information out of her daughter. It almost always resulted in an argument between the two, with Rachel refusing to talk to her. She nodded her head. "That's good." The girl hummed in return, but made no attempt to continue the conversation.

They walked out of the doctor's office, each stuck in their own heads. Shelby wasn't sure what she could do at this point to get Rachel to trust her. _I've screwed up so much in my life. I don't want to mess her up, but I'm doing a lousy job. _

"You're not." Rachel spoke up. Shelby snapped her head back to face her child. "You're not doing a lousy job. You're a good mom. You didn't have to take me back, but you did. You give me love, food, a bed, and a house. You help me with my homework. You tuck me in bed at night, and sing until I fall asleep." The girl was starting to understand how much her mom loved her. Hiram and Leroy never did those sorts of things for her. They indulged her every whim, because they didn't really want any reminders of their illegal actions. They wanted a child without the responsibility of one.

Shelby hadn't realized she had voiced her thoughts aloud. She listened to Rachel's rant, and she was touched that Rachel valued all the little things she did for her like she did. She loved spending every minute she could with her girl. It gutted her every time they had to part, but she knew it wouldn't be like that day. "I didn't mean to say that."

"But you did, and I wanted you to know you're not a bad mom. You comfort me like no one else can. I feel safe in your arms even though we've only been back in each other's lives for a month. We still don't know a lot of things about each other, but I like learning stuff about you. You're my mom."

Shelby wiped a few stray tears. "Rachel, you don't how much your words mean to me. I love the moments I spend with you because of all our lost ones. I missed seeing you lose all of your teeth-"

"Actually mommy, I still have a few baby teeth." Rachel interrupted.

The mother grinned and playfully rolled her eyes for her daughter to see in the rearview mirror. "As I was saying, I missed your first day of school, your first Broadway performance, and so many other things. You're my little girl, my baby, my kid, and all I want to do is protect you from getting hurt. I know that's no way to live though. So my next best option is to make you as happy as I can."

"I'm happy whenever I'm with you." She was feeling vulnerable, but she could see her mother needed this as much as she did. "Besides there's still a lot of stuff you can see. There's my first day of middle and high school. There are the rest of my birthdays including my tenth one coming up soon." She squealed in delight at the reminder of her finally getting to the double digits. "Then let's see, oh we could go ice skating. I've never been. And uh I could learn how to ride a bike because _they_ never let me. There's so much we could do."

Shelby was suddenly realizing that there were a lot of things she would still be around for. Rachel's first kiss was definitely a big one, although she wouldn't mention that one in front of the girl because she would probably scrunch up her nose in disgust. And deep down, she knew that she would be there the day the girl finally met her father. That was another can of worms; she didn't want to delve into at the moment.

"So you see, we've got a whole lot of stuff for me to do for the first time before I go off to college. Even after, there's me getting married and having babies."

"Okay Rach, I got the point." She didn't need the visuals to go along with that. For now, she wanted to keep her child a little girl. She didn't want her to feel in any hurry to grow up.

The girl chuckled nervously. "I didn't mean to talk so much. I was excited a little bit because we've got a lot of time to spend together."

"Yeah Rach, we do. Now let's get inside so you can get started on your homework."

Rachel's eyes widened in horror. "But mom," she whined loudly. The moment was over, but they had plenty left.

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><p><strong>AN- It's a little breakthrough, but it is going to take a lot of time for Rachel to heal. Luckily, children tend to have the resiliency to bounce back from terrible situations. She's more confused than anything at the moment. Let me know what you guys think, and if there is anything specific you want to happen in the story.**


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